This Is Not The Beginning, This is Not the End
by Kittyinaz
Summary: Starting at the end of the movie. What if the OZ was not done with DG? What if DG couldn't take it and was done with the OZ, leaving it for Kansas? Could 2 men convince her to come back, if nothing else, but for them, for love?
1. Prologue

**Takes place directly when the movie ends. It is VERY Short. Edited and Reposted 05/15/13**

**Word count before editing: 1,179**

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: Waiting for the End _by Linkin Park_._**

* * *

><p>"That's the OZ I remember." Those were the last words DG said before she collapsed.<p>

Luckily her Tin Man was there as always, Glitch a half step behind him. He caught her; a groan was the only indication of his wound. He picked her up bridal style and asked, "Where is a room I can put her into?" It went unsaid that he would be there guarding her. He will never leave DG; he will be there for her no matter what she chooses. She would need a bodyguard right?

Her parents looked at each other trying to get what was going on clear in their head, they are both having issues with DG no longer being seven, but they are working on it. But the situation in front of them is a bit much to take in. They didn't have objections, how could they? But…

When she saw her parents are trying to wrap their minds around it all, Azkadellia stepped forward and asked him in a soft voice to follow her. Glitch moved after them also determined to keep DG within his view at this time, and for all time.

The group moved down the hall. Glitch came up to Cain and asked him, "May I carry her, you're still wounded." He, along with Cain acknowledged long ago what was happening and the two of them have come to a decision; to let her choose between them. Plus there was Glitch's surgery to come. It may solve their problems itself, after all even Glitch hates Ambrose.

Cain growled at him, his protectiveness over DG full out in the open. He knows Glitch is more than capable of taking care of DG, but right now, he just cannot let her go. He looked at Glitch and raised an eyebrow, greatly relieved when Glitch nodded in response. While he cannot put her down, he also needed someone he trusted to remain with her, and to guard them both. With this, there is no one he trusted more than Glitch to protect DG.

Cain glances around, checking where Azkadellia is taking them. He will always be able to take care of DG. To even suggest otherwise is blasphemous in his mind. He stared down at the tiny princess in his arms and thought back when she was saying goodbye to them all earlier. When his time had come, he didn't need the words. He will fight to the death for her, and then some. His fear was because he would not be there for her. He would not be at her side and neither would Glitch or any of their friends. She had to do this on her own. Cain knew his princess can take care of herself, but she was his to guard as she is the one who guards his heart.

He had spent eight annuals saying good byes to his wife and son. That is long enough for anyone to grieve. Finding his son was a blessing, but there was no aging in the Tin Suits. That is what makes them such a horrendous prison. Aging literally stopped. He remains the same 23 annuals. His son was now barely a couple of annuals younger than him.

That is how one lived, if that could be cosidered living, within those things. And oh yes, it fooled you, your hair grew, you would get hungry, you see time pass outside the windows of your prison. You could never close your eyes, never do anything until you accept the reason you are in one. That was in the magic in the suits. And as a former Tin Man he knew what was going on. Cain still can't figure out if that added to the torture or not. You see, once you have admitted your crime, you then atoned for it. As soon as the magic of the suit agrees with your atonement, you are released. But his suit had been forced to keep shut, it would not have stayed shut otherwise. Then being forced to watch the murder of his wife and son, over and over again, it built within him a powerful need for revenge. The only one that helped free him of that, is the same one who freed him from the Tin Suit. DG had been his salvation, and become his reason. It did not happen overnight, but she had slowly crept into his tin heart, and started it, now it beats for her.

They made it to the rooms Azkadellia had put her sister in earlier. She stopped and frowned, when she realized that it may not be a good thing for DG to wake in them. She concentrated and had the room change its décor to one in blues. She stumbled, but Raw caught her. He moved her into the room and had her sit on the settee.

Cain carefully laid DG on the bed, removing her shoes as carefully as he could. He went to remove her jacket and Glitch was there helping with her. He nodded his thanks to him. The two of them made her as comfortable as possible.

Cain grabbed a chair with his ankle and dragged over to the bed and he sat there, his back to the wall and his eyes able to watch DG and to make sure nothing can get to her without first going through him. The only vulnerable area had Glitch guarding her. Their eyes meet, acknowledging the agreement made on the trail; they will both be here for her. She will need all of them.

There they sat, letting their bodies rest for the first time in days, just waiting for DG to wake up. As they tried to think of a reason why DG had yet to wake up, there is a quiet knock on the door. Raw moved to answer the door after Azkadellia and the rest nodded their readiness.

The door opened to show Jeb on the other side. He rushed in and his eyes landed upon the princess on the bed then how his father is seated next to her. His eyes flicked up to his father's and he could see the determination and love he had for the woman he was guarding. _This will make life interesting!_

Then he turned and saw the same determination coming from Glitch and he realized life is going to _very_ interesting.

Cain can see his son gathering intelligence from how he was looking at everyone in the room. But the look in his eyes when he came in indicated he had not only wanted to check on them. "Jeb, what is it?"

Jeb jerked his mind out of the thoughts he was having, and he quickly told his father, "Whoever is healing the patients below, we appreciate it, but they can stop. I cannot see how its not draining whoever it is." He had rushed up here as soon as he had seen wounds magically healing themselves. He knew it had to be one of the princesses, and it made sense to him it was DG. He was unsure of Azkadellia, but he could picture DG trying to heal people.

Cain spun in his chair as Azkadellia rushed to her sister's side, he almost growled and as well as Glitch who was hovering on DG's other side. Azkadellia snapped at both of them, "Stop, until she makes her choice, you both need to chill. Right now, I need to stop her from draining herself." She then muttered softly, tears present, "Deej, why? You, of all of us, need to rest. There is no need to drive yourself to the end like this!"

Glitch is the one who asked the words in both of their heads, "What is she doing?" He was worried. This woman in front of him has slowly taken over his life. He had never even thought of fighting others until it became necessary for him to protect her. He was sitting in the basket waiting for something to happen, and ho boy, did something happen! DG fell into his life and she never put him down, and in fact listened to him. He loved to make her laugh and once they had found out who she was, the pictures of a young princess not Azkadellia that he constantly saw made sense. He was remembering a younger DG. And his feelings for her were not negative, but they were of adoration for the Princess. They came in fuzzily.

Downstairs in Ambrose's brain, his memories are clear and showed a princess who would barge into his workshop whenever she wanted. And he welcomed her into it, encouraging her to play with the inventions. Many a times she would help him. And in fact, he hopes she never realizes that his break though on the Sun Seeder was from her. Her at 7 annuals! Ambrose had been hopeful that they will eventually be closer in the future, that he could get her to agree to him courting her. Their ages are not that unnormal in a world that most lived to be 200 or over.

But then the Evil Witch took over Akzadellia and killed DG. His heart had broken on that day, the day they had lowered her body into the ground and he become cold. So cold to everyone else. Duty was the only thing that drove him and why would her sister, who adored her, kill her? He was the one who had discovered what had happened.

Most of these thoughts are still hidden to him, Glitch just knew he had recognized DG and then he fell in love with the adult version. All the while his subconscious remains happy. But a lot of the back story flew through when Raw had connected the two of them. Ambrose is downstairs and waiting to reunite his body and brain and Glitch was scared of Ambrose taking away DG, of hating her. He was scared of the coldness he had felt from Ambrose not realizing it was from before. When he thought that DG was dead.

Lavender rushed in and laid her fingers on the other side of DG's head and worked with her daughter. Ahamo came in and answered the question. "She is trying to fix OZ. She started thankfully with the troops and we realized what she was doing when the lands around the tower began to flower like they did in the past. If they don't make her stop, she will drain herself and will eventually kill herself." His concern for his daughter was evident.

Just then DG's body was physically raised from her being horizontal on the bed and everyone jumped in to hold her down. She fought them all; eventually Cain, Glitch and Jeb were the only ones that could keep her on the bed. Lavender and Azkadellia worked to stop her from pouring her very life out of her.

It seemed as though the fight lasted for hours, but in actuality it was only minutes. All at once DG's eyes flew open and she screamed. That scream tore through them all. It wasn't until later they learned that everyone around the Tower had heard it. They all described it the same, it was soul rending.

Cain hated to do it, but he did the only thing he could think of. He slapped her. Silence descended as she shut down again. He gathered her to himself, murmuring how very sorry he was; he never wanted to hurt her.

Tutor came in and watched it all. His face was caring, but inside, inside he was gleeful. The one who should be suffering is. All the sayings, all the mutterings are coming to fruition. It seemed he would get his revenge on the one who started this whole thing. The one who had not been able to stop their curiosity from destroying OZ.

* * *

><p><strong>Word count: after editing. 2 ,014<strong>

**Fairfarren~Wendy.**


	2. Chapter 1 One of These Days

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. I just spend until 2am working out plot points with an awesome friend. **

**Edited and reposted 05/15/2013**

**Word count before editing: 3,776 **

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: Letters from the Sky _by Civil Twilight_._ **

* * *

><p>The sky is heavy with clouds full of rain; the general feeling of the air is thick as a Papay sack. A lone rider is on the Old Brick Road, on a horse that once was all white, but now has mud splatters up to it's hocks. The man on the horse is a born horseman, hidden in the gloom but every so often his ice cold blue eyes are seen below the fedora he wears as a shield.<p>

The man looks up as he passes a familiar landmark; although Cain is looking upward his mind is lost in his memories. Memories of when they had taken this route on the way to the Central city to see his former employer. To a time before he had given into his feelings for woman who had freed him from his prison, before he stopped fighting what he was feeling at the time. After what seemed to be too long to the blonde man, Cain is riding back into Central City, after spending time helping his son put down the last of the large gatherings of Longcoats. He is sore and weary, but nothing will stop him from at least putting his eyes at long last on DG.

Cain shifts minutely in the saddle, making as little noise as possible out of habit. He frowns as he makes his way into the city, remembering the last annual. DG woke up from her magical drain quiet. Glitch and he had tried at length to get her to talk about what was going on in that stubborn pretty head of hers. Sadly nothing ever came from their attempts, neither he nor any of their friends seemed able to get through to her. And Gods know they tried everything. Glitch and he ended up sleeping on the chairs outside her room to make sure she didn't try anything. Or more hopefully, that she decided to open up to them both. Shoot, they would accept if she only spoke with one of them, anything had to be better than the robot she was becoming.

After that had gone on for a month, Az had finally dragged both Glitch and Cain to her parents. She reminded Glitch that he had already sued for the right to court DG and that Cain needed to. The whole family just gaped at her, shocked; Cain more than anyone else, him court a Royal? But that ended real quick once Az asked if Cain was giving up on DG and willing to let Glitch marry her. Cain had straightened up, and immediately asked for the right to court DG. He loves that little princess too much to give her up without a fight. Once an agreement had been given from the Queen and her Consort, a ripple spread from Cain and Glitch.

Then the day turned odder as Az sagged, relieved. She explained that as a Royal Princess of the OZ, suitors that are earnest in their feelings towards the Royal in question, and sue successfully to be a Suitor, gain a tie to the person in question and a tie to each other. Basically letting everyone _but_ DG know where everyone else is. Including both Cain and Ambrose knowing where DG is.

Then Az dropped the final ball, she held out a locket that Glitch recognized. "Hey that is DG's! She was really upset when the ankle biters took it from her and dropped it." Then his eyes widened and he clamped both hands over his mouth, realizing he was in the presence of the parents of the woman he loved. The very ones who he wanted to make a good impression on. Funny though, he didn't feel as though he needed to try too hard.

Az waited patiently for Glitch's eyes return to hers and then she nodded as she looked up into her mother's eyes. "The Emerald has rejected me. It has made me known of it's wishes of being reunited with it's correct owner. Because DG rejected it when I tried to give it to her, it has come up with a sneaky way of being with her. It has merged itself with the locket, and with my help, we will make sure it will not be coming off of her easily. It added an emerald heart on the front, I need your help with this Mother."

Lavender looked down at the locket and back up to her daughter, asking, "What am I going to do with it?"

Cain laughed as he realized. When they all looked at him, he told them, "You are going to do something magical in nature to it, saying the emerald heart is from you."

Az smiled at who could be her brother-in-law. "He has it." She went on to explain that the Emerald has hidden itself, but due to it's power, it always leaves a physical presence. By Lavender explaining she added an emerald to it, and making it where the photos inside will never fade as a gift to DG, they all hope this will help.

Lavender smiled down at them all and they expanded on the plans to make sure DG will accept it. The Emerald had promised to sneak in lessons and will try to protect her by acting as a shield to keep her from killing herself, in return for being returned to it's rightful owner.

The following day DG was called in, and given the necklace that was just found. Cain watched her with anxious eyes, noting the weariness in her body. His eyes shot over to meet Glitch's equally worried dark eyes. There is something wrong with DG! She should not be this exhausted. But both Az and Lavender say they haven't felt her working her magic outside of her lessons with Tutor. Tutor promised all he was working on was basic instructions, hoping to trigger the memories locked inside her brain.

That was the last day they had all been together. Raw had left soon after, escorting Kalm back to his tribe, promising to come back to help with DG, Kalm was having problems being in the same area with DG and her guilt.

Shortly afterwards, Jeb had been promoted to Commander of the Forces and was sent to try to round up the last of the Longcoats. He had deserved the promotion, and had a very proud father handing his commendations and new insignia to his son.

Cain had refused any titles, but he was given one anyways. The short stick of the deal was that he needed to be a Lord in order to handle any disciplinary actions. This was part of the plan to help DG, and allowed for both of them to remain close to her. He and Glitch were to work together in helping DG and Lavender heal the OZ, in a more controlled manner, not as DG had tried to do.

But with his title, events quickly escalated to the point that he needed to go out to his son with the full authority of the Gales behind him. He was needed to help sort through who needed to tried for their crimes by the Gales, and who he can sort through himself. Being a former Tin Man helped a lot. Jeb and the rest of the troops helped when they could tell, all that he wanted, was to be back in Central City.

It didn't help that Zero had somehow escaped his Tin Suit and the Sorceress' right hand man had gone missing. Everyone with even a minute amount of magical foresight had a multitude of visions of how that pairing would be nothing but trouble. As if they needed any additional trouble with everything else they are dealing with.

Cain looks up to see how much closer he is to Central City and where both ends of this odd bond he had with Glitch and DG are located. When he saw it will be no more than a half a mark later, he gave back into his musings, and of course, his favorite subject, his princess.

When Cain gave his heart to someone, he gave it 100%. He knew he would never be good enough for the princess who had captured his heart, but he will do anything for her. It's the Cain curse. And he chuckles under his breath, remembering when he realized that he saw the same signs with his son.

Jeb may be fighting it, but he has asked one too many times about another Princess to escape his father's notice. Cain maybe love struck, but he is not blind. No, his ability to keep his Princess of Light in one piece accounted for his ability to remain aware, even when he is besotted with the same person. He will never allow another of his loved ones to be hurt on his watch.

Thunder rumbled overhead, bringing Cain back to the reason why he is pushing through the night and actually has been for the last few nights. Glitch should be having his surgery right now according to the letter Cain had received from Azkadellia and Glitch. Glitch is worried, _very worried_ about DG, and he could not postpone the surgery any longer. He felt bad, knowing that if he had been connected to his brain all this time that he may have been able to put the pieces together by now. That guilt he was feeling had been enough to give in to his fear and to his mind, he feared that this surgery would make him lose the love he had for DG. But, as he had written to Cain, he knew that she is more than worth it.

Cain reached in and fingered the last missive from Glitch and Az. Besides those two, Lavender and Ahamo had to make a progression through the Kingdom to show she was not still imprisoned. Az was supposed to go with her, and from what they had written, it had been a full out fight to keep her from going. She finally pointed out that unless something happened to DG, she would never take the thrown. She then stared hard at DG, and commented, "Mother, remember to have a _heart_." And that had ended the argument.

Other than Glitch and AZ, the only other friend from their group that had remained at the Palace is Tutor, to help the Princess get ready for her new role. If Cain had been aware of this earlier, he would of tried to return earlier. Something in him still didn't trust the mutt.

As the thunder rolls became closer to each other, Cain sighs in relief as he sees the Royal Stable in front of him. He rides into the stable, swinging down from his horse and leans against the horse for some strength. He may have a young body, but his mind tells him all the time he is 31. He chuckles to himself, remembering that at 16, Adora had came up to him, and casually mentioned they should get married. When he just stared at her, she told him it was normal when two people were going to be parents.

He had been so happy then, it had been hard for them, but he had passed the Tin Man academy quickly, working as diligently as possible. He left behind records that had remained unbroken until the Academy was disbanded. His dedication to his work had quickly helped him make a name for himself, and then brought him to the attention of the Mystic Man. He had worked for the Mystic Man until the day he had been thrown into the Tin Suit. The Mystic Man and Cain had been in charge of leading the Resistance.

Cain took off his hat, and wiped his forehead, washing away the memories from his sight. It did no good to bring up the past when he had already said goodbye to it. As much as it had shamed him at the beginning, he felt more for DG than he had ever felt for Adora. It had taken Jeb a long time to talk his father out of feeling guilty for something that was out of his control. You just can't control how your heart feels about another.

He pushes himself away from his horse and greets the servant who appeared at his side. "Good evening, Rialto. Can you please make sure Silver gets a warm mash before you put him away for the night?" A smile crosses his face, as it always does when he mentions the name of his horse, Silver. He still remembers DG naming the horse as he rode with her in front of him on the way back from the mausoleum. Something about how every good cowboy needed a horse named Silver. He had kept the name and the horse since it had made her so ridiculously happy every time she had seen the horse.

Realizing how exhausted he must be since he couldn't keep his mind current, he shook his head, bringing him to the present. After receiving Rialto's agreement, he turns and makes the trek into the City, his thoughts once again filled with worry for DG. He snorts to himself on how much his thoughts revolve around a woman, one he barely knows. He has no idea what her favorite color is, or even what her favorite flower is, allowing him to surprise her with a bouquet. He wants to know what her hobbies are, and what it had been like for her, growing up on the Other Side.

Then his face frowns as he remembers each and every time any of them tried to talk to her even about such trivial items. She had quietly, and gently rebuffed them so subtly that they had only realized it later. It is almost as though DG is pushing them all away. And he, for one, refuses to allow it to continue.

Cain makes his way through the city, barely making it inside before the skies break open with the rain they had been heavy with. The Central City is cleaner, but the rain matches Cain's mood so well that he doesn't even register that the city is much darker than it should be now that the Gales back in power. The City walls and building reflects the mood of the ruler, and it should be almost back to the emerald green they used to be before the Sorceress's coup d'état had taken place.

It finally registers with him, what he is feeling, instead of the pain of bond, he feels just the clean feeling of both Glitch and DG in the building in front of him. He cannot help but remember when he had first felt the bond to both Glitch and DG after he had asked to be DG's suitor. After awhile, he had accepted, then learned to use it. It had made him feel…relieved that he would always know where DG is, and to some extent Glitch. Between the worry the two of them shared for DG, and the times they had bonded throughout the journey here, the two of them feel more like brothers than competitors.

However, no one had warned either of them about was the pain they would feel from being away from DG for too long. They didn't know if it had anything to do with each other, but Great Gilma, the pain gave a huge indication that it did have to do with each other also! They had both mentioned how much it had hurt, but both Glitch and Cain could still feel where the other was, along with DG. Not for the first time, Cain wondered why the magic is affecting them both in this way.

Cain separates DG from Glitch in the shared bond, and moves in the direction in which he could feel the pull to her. However, there is a guard at the door who is new, and foolishly wants to make a name for himself. He just picked the wrong person and night to do so. "Halt!"

Cain's head lifted enough for his eyes to not be hidden from his fedora, and he pins the man in front of him with his ice blue eyes. He is not in the mood to be messed with, he needs to see both Glitch and Az to see why they frantically called him back, and he _really_ needs to see DG. No man will stop the former Tin Man from his goals, much less a guard.

The guard in question backs up a step in response to the pure determination visible in the eyes in the man in front of him. He gapes, never imagining in his wildest imagination that he would find one of the Four trying to just walk into the gates of the Palace. After all, there is no question who the man in front of him is.

* * *

><p>Luckily, the fates stepped in for the poor guard. For as Cain can feel Glitch, Glitch, who is now once again Ambrose, can also feel his brother. He raises his head, still weary from the surgery that had occurred only this morning, and looks into the eyes of his love's sister. He smiles, telling her, "No worries, Az. I remember everything. More than Glitch in fact, I remember and <em>know<em> why I became what I did after DG's death. I believed same as you that DG was dead. And I refused to rescind the Courtship, leaving myself voluntarily tied to her, dead. The depression I was in helped form the man you and the rest of the world knew as Lord Ambrose. However, right before the Sorceress took Lavender away, she told me never to fall away. I think that memory is what allowed Glitch to follow and be with DG. Thanks to the Gods, I don't know what I would have done to know that I had met her and not helped her."

Ambrose remembers the despair he had been in, but he had adamantly refused to release the Courtship Bond. He couldn't for the love he had felt for the little princess, even then, had been all encompassing. He had never met someone that is a complete match for him. She _understood_ him in ways no one else had ever seemed to. She even loved to dance with him, and gave him a chance when no one would let a no-known lord from the outskirts of the OZ to even look upon on him. If nothing else, that one moment in time was probably when he tumbled, falling head over heels in love with the adventurous Princess.

He smiles slowly as he remembers all the times with her in his workshop, Azkadellia sitting in the chair he had brought in for her. Az told them both that they were crazy for always wanting to be around all this mechanical stuff when there are abundant mysteries in magic. He remembers fondly DG sticking up for them telling her, "Hopefully in the future, you can help us design something that combines our magic with Ambrose's inventions." She had giggled and Az looked upon her sister with such love.

The smile fell off his face as he remembered that was the day before the witch had taken over Az. He looked over at Az and told her, "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but thank you."

Az looks up into his eyes and nods. "I used to be jealous of the love I could see that you had for her. Then as I grew older, I realized it was a meeting of like minds. You both are so compatible with each other it boggles my mind." Her face grew sad and she asks, "How is this going to work out between you three?"

Shifting in the hospital bed, Ambrose sighs. "I love her so much, but so does he. And we both feel as though the other is a brother. I don't know how this is going to end, but for now, we both love her to the best of our abilities. And figure out what is wrong. Once everything is fine, then we will work on figuring out this complex relationship."

Ambrose's eyes closes as he feels Cain close and he tells Az, "I am so sorry, Az. But, you need to get to the front gate as soon as possible. Cain has made his way home, and he needs to talk to us before he sees DG."

Gasping, knowing that Cain will rock the Palace to it's grounds if he sees DG without any warning, Az nods. She lays her hand on Ambrose's and tells him softly, "Now that you are whole and Cain is back, we will find out what is going on. We have to, before DG gives up." She turns and runs down the halls, determination in every line, not caring that she is not acting as a princess. Her sister needs her and she will do anything for her.

She runs down the stairs, only stopping for a second in relief seeing the familiar fedora and duster in front of her. Just as suddenly, Az realizes that something is wrong, the guard is backing away from him and Cain's whole body is cold.

She hurries down the stairs and calls softly, "Cain?"

Cain's head turns towards her, and he relaxes minutely, recognizing the object of his son's affections. He takes his hat off to her, and she moves quickly to his side.

Az tells him quietly so that the guard does not hear, "Ambrose needs to see you before you see DG. He says he is sorry, he knows of your pain, but you really do need to see him."

Cain closes his eyes to even out his feelings. _So close, and yet so far away._ He nods, and glaring at the Guardsman while promising to himself to come back later to give the man what he deserves. He follows the Princess up the stairs, noticing she is heading towards the medical ward. He frowns, knowing Glitch had been fighting everyone on being reunited with his brain,desperate to not lose DG. Cain never blamed him, in fact helped him every chance he could, understanding this feeling. But he while he knew from the letter that Glitch was going to have the surgery, he had thought he would at least have waited for him to get home.

Az saw his look, and explains, "It is getting bad, Cain. But, I think you will be surprised. He has lost nothing, the fact you can still feel him should prove that. Remember, only those who have true feelings and have declared themself for a Royal is gifted with the Bond."

Cain moves past Az, a little upset no one is guarding Glitch, for as a Royal Suitor, they both are supposed to be guarded. However, within minutes of being told that, they both declared that they had no need for guards, unless they are unconscious. This definitely qualified as one of the times he should be guarded.

Ambrose looks up as his brother enters the room, his face showing relief. "Cain! Oh thank Glinda. Something is really wrong."

Cain looks over Glitch, and comments off handily, hiding his feelings as normal, "Must be for you to agree to have the surgery, much less have it without me around. What's up Headcase?"

A smile ghosts Ambrose's face as he replies, "I've missed your stellar wit, Cain. First, let's get what questions out that I am sure you have. I am reunited with whom you call Glitch. His fears were completely unfounded I am the one who asked to court DG when she came to age, I tied myself to her so very long ago and never gave up my feelings or the Bond. Which reminds me, I do need to ask the Queen how she managed to hide the fact that DG was alive…"

Cain couldn't help it, he has to smile. Yes, the man he knew is still there. "Glitch!"

Ambrose starts and then sheepishly smiles. "It seems as though there is still quite a bit of Glitch in me. But please call me Ambrose, Cain. Glitch decided to have the surgery when he and Az could no longer take it anymore. And we had no idea when you would be back." He is trying to relay what Glitch was thinking, knowing by Cain's face that he was hurt by them not waiting.

Cain cocks his head to the side and he just states flatly, "You didn't think I would come as fast as possible when I get a letter telling me that there is something wrong with DG? That _you_ are worried?"

Az laughs, "I didn't think you would pause for a second, but Glitch was out of his head with concern. But, Cain, I don't blame him. Cain, there is something really wrong with DG. Just keep a level head when you see her, you know Ambrose alone would do anything for her. So would I. We just can't get to her anymore." Tears threaten to flow over.

Cain sighs, and collapses into a chair by Ambrose's bed. He removes his fedora, dropping it on his knee as he scrubs his face with his hands. At that moment, it sinks into Ambrose and Az how weary Cain is. He must have pushed himself to the wall and then some to have made the return this fast.

Making sure DG has not moved he opens his eyes and asks, "Tell me everything, please."

Nodding his head, Ambrose starts. "Az was a little suspicious when she realized that the only people left was Tutor, me and herself. She started to check into everything. Raw had to leave, but so much has come up, legitimate reasons, to keep him away. Then Jeb was promoted and sent away. Even though you fought it so much, even you were sent away." He had to take a breath. Cain needs to know it all, but bugger that he returned on the same day he had the surgery!

Here Az takes over the telling, seeing that Ambrose is still not fully recovered from his surgery. "Then our parents were sent away, as you know I was supposed to be there, but I defied it. What no one knew at the time, Ambrose was supposed to go along with them. But our parents said that, though DG did need the practice of ruling, she needed a trusted adviser more."

To give Cain credit, he had just ridden half of the OZ to be here, and had not time to rest. He could not be blamed for not putting the pieces together instantly, but when he did, he sat up straight. He chokes out, "DG sent us away?"

Nodding unhappily, Ambrose comments, "And that is the reason we need you back and why I needed to have my brain back. It took us a couple of days with the facts to come to that conclusion." _I should of known that right away!_

Az quickly inserts, knowing that Ambrose is still blaming himself for not seeing it right away, "Of course, neither of us can understand why she did it, or could even fathom that she did it to all of us to even consider it. Especially after you see her, you will understand."

Just staring at them, Cain is blown away. DG sent him away? _Why?_

Ambrose leans forward and grabs Cain by the forearm. He knows how Cain is feeling, he felt the same way. He quietly asks, "Cain, I need you to be able to think. Go see her, get some rest. We will meet back here and try to get to the bottom of this. I will be back on my feet soon."

Cain nods, his blue eyes locked on Ambrose's brown ones. He tells him, "We will get to the bottom of this." He holds Ambrose's eyes until he agrees.

Az quickly interjects, "Your rooms are beside DG's, Ambrose is across the hall. The only other room next to hers is mine. Get some rest Cain. Please don't…just take a deep breath when you see her." She hurts, knowing that he will be in pain to see her like that. It hurts both Ambrose and her every time they see her, and they have had time to get used to it. Cain will be seeing it all at once.

Nodding, Cain settles his hat on his head and heads to his heart. Apprehension encases him, but if you are not close to the Tin Man, you never would know it. He makes his way up to the Royal Wing, and to DG's room. When he stops outside her room, his hand pauses on the knob. The thought of _She sent me away!_ is prevalent in his head. He finally takes Az's advice and opens the door quietly.

He moves quietly through her outer rooms, making his way to her bedroom. He stops in the doorway; his first look of her is a punch in his stomach. He grabs the doorway to help keep him upright, shocked.

DG is lost in the bed, she has always been tiny, but now, she is wasting away. There are deep circles under her eyes,and her thick hair looks lifeless. Cain had never been so glad that she is asleep, there is no hiding his reaction, and he also has a bad feeling that her eyes will be another shock. _What has happened to you, Sweetheart?_

Cain closes his eyes, vowing to get to the bottom of whatever is doing this to her. He opens his eyes, seeing a flash of green. He then realizes that her necklace is still on and the Emerald of the Eclipse is still trying. He nods his head in it's direction and looking at her one last time, he makes his way to her outer room. He cannot travel any longer and collapses into an armchair, staring into the flames. His brain is overwhelmed and the last thought before he falls asleep is, _DG, I don't know what is wrong, but darlin' we **will **__find out and fix this._

* * *

><p><strong>Word count: after editing. 5,340 <strong>

**Fairfarren~Wendy.**


	3. Chapter 2 Out of This Place

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. I just spend until 2am working out plot points with an awesome friend. **

**Edited and reposted 05/15/2013**

**Word count before editing: 3,384 **

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: Search Party _by Wintersleep_._**

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Cain closes his eyes, vowing to get to the bottom of whatever is doing this to her. He opens his eyes, seeing a flash of green. He then realizes that her necklace is still on and the Emerald of the Eclipse is still trying. He nods his head in its direction and looking at her one last time, he makes his way to her outer room. He cannot travel any longer and collapses into an armchair, staring into the flames. His brain is overwhelmed and the last thought before he falls asleep is, _DG, I don't know what is wrong, but darlin' we **will **find out and fix this.

_And now:_

* * *

><p>The following morning dawns slowly. The second sun rises fifteen minutes after the other, bestowing it's light across all of the O.Z. The rain from the previous night has cleared the air and washed the world clean. The light crept across the land and finally hit Central City. The light hits the land and starts trying to banish the darkness from the walls, making them glisten as they are supposed to, but nothing less than the O.Z.'s chosen ruler can do that.<p>

The morning light didn't have the chance to enter the window of the Tower where the Royal Family's rooms are before Cain is violently awoken by the pain of separation. He springs up fully awake and he looks around, the habits of an annual on the hunt for the rogue Longcoats serving him well now.

Reflexively he glances around the room, but he already know what really has awakened him. Cain moves quickly to DG's bedchamber, when he looks in, he sees nothing but an indention on the bed where her tiny body had rested just hours before. He feels the bed and can still feel the warmth from her body. His eyes darken as he looks over the room. _Where could she have gone? _Knowing she was gone does not stop the Tin Man from looking everywhere in the room. Before he gets very far, he feels Ambrose moving quickly towards him and just as he lifts his head, Ambrose is charging into the room.

Holding his chest as he slides into the room, Ambrose looks frantically from the bed to Cain, and demands, "Where is she?" He could remember the pain as Cain had been sent away, but this is nothing like it. _Oh DG, where have you gone?_

Looking over at Ambrose as he comes back in from looking in her closet, he answers him, "I have no idea. I was sleeping in her antechamber. I couldn't be any further away from her once I'd seen her. Ambrose, _what_ happened?" His words are clipped, short. His rage is barely being kept in check by his knowing that Ambrose is in the same pain he is.

Someone came running down the hall moving steadily closer causing both Ambrose and Cain to step into the archway, moving as one. They both relax as Az ran into the room, glaring at the two of them. "Ambrose just got cleared out of the Recovery Rooms when he took off running. What in Ozma's good graces is going on? And where is DG?" She glares at both of them, but Cain and Ambrose can see the fear in her eyes as the realization strikes her that her sister is missing.

Cain is turning back to the rooms his eyes roving over everything, desperate to see how DG disappeared. As he does this he can't quite contain the sarcasm as he retorts, "Well, she ain't here, princess. And I had nothing to do with Ambrose's exit from the Recovery Rooms. I am, however, willing to bet that he is here because of the pain of separation. You know, that Bond you have both of us in?"

His voice is heavy with scorn and anger. Anger that the two of them didn't warn him better about DG; anger that he hadn't been here to take care of her. Anger at DG for letting herself get to that state. And lastly, anger that she somehow disappeared and that she did it right after he appears back in her life. Did it have something to do with that? Is he the reason she left?

Ambrose takes in Cain, seeing the blue eyes even get harder and shivers. He takes a breath, and tells Azkadellia, "Cain is right. I felt as though my soul was torn in half, and knew it had something to do with DG. This is so much worse than when Cain left. That at least was bearable since it worsened as he went farther away. This time it was sudden, and I _had_ to be here. And you know just as much as Cain and I about where DG is." His voice drops, as he himself begins to feel the anger that he knows Cain is feeling as he warns the woman that he's come to think of as a sister, "And Az, if I were you, I would take a deep breath. _Look_ at Cain before you even think of saying a single word."

During Ambrose's speech, Cain has managed to get his temper under control, and he states, "We need a safe spot to talk. Since I don't think DG is just going to appear back here, we need to _discuss_ what the _hell_ happened to DG. In detail. I have a feeling whatever made her disappear has a root in what caused her to deteriorate like that." His eyes rake over both of them as he gathers his duster and fedora from where he laid them last night. His gun belt had been fastened subconsciously as he had searched for DG earlier.

Az swallows nervously. She is used to Ambrose's almost franticness when it comes to DG, but Cain is a brand new level for her. She has known that the Lord Cain is in love with her sister. She had seen it when she was locked inside the witch then later she could see with her own eyes, his love for her, as soon as she was free. She was the one to suggest the Suitor's bond for him. While, she loves Ambrose like a brother, and the memories of their times in his labs with DG were some of her most treasured ones. Even back then she knew that Ambrose had loved her sister, and that had made it easy to recognize in Cain. And Glitch too of course, but Glitch is Ambrose, so it was never an issue, even if the two stubborn men in front of her wouldn't listen. It was the love she observed from these two men for her sister that made her promise to herself, to never accept anything less than that emotion for herself.

Later on when the Witch killed her sister, she had crackled in glee that she had in fact destroyed so many lives in that one moment. She had left Ambrose alone until she had no other choice, she had enjoyed watching him turn from the bright loving Lord that held such promise for the O.Z., into an embittered, cold, lonely man. All from the death of a useless little girl. And to hear Azkadellia's silent screams for not only the death of her sister, or the devastation of her parents, but watching the man she considered her brother fall into a deep depression, it had amused the Witch to no end. So much in fact that she would replay those particular memories often for her own entertainment.

Only the need for the Sun Seeder had somewhat ended Ambrose's agony. Even then, he had fought so hard to keep it from the Witch, protecting the last good memory he had of him and his DG working on it. When the Witch had found that, she opted to tortured his brain with that information. That his precious Sun Seeder was going to bring about the permanent darkness to the O.Z.,_ his _DG's precious Outer Zone, all while using the invention she helped to bring about. Oh yes, the Witch would go into the brain room to gloat as often as she could. She positively gloated to Ambrose's brain until the technicians complained about the repeated power loss.

But this, watching Cain's pain over what has happened to DG, it completely blows Azkadellia away. For the first time ever, she entertains the thought that there is a man out there that does in fact love DG more than Ambrose. And that alone, to Azkadellia, is amazing.

Subdued, Az tells the men in front of her, "We would be less interrupted in your office, Lord Cain. No one really knows that you are due back; much less that you are actually back already. Adding in the fact you stayed here in her rooms will only serve to hide your presence from everyone." She has kept quiet that only Cain could have stayed in DG's rooms like this, considering that when he was home, he refused to leave her side. This had not been the first time that he has stayed the night here. Cain really does not trust anyone with her safety. She truly believes that that is what tore him up then and even more now believing that DG had sent him away. Leaving no one was here to protect her when she obviously needed it the most.

Cain nods and makes his way to his office, expecting that the others will follow behind him. It is on the floor below, connected to both Ambrose's and DG's offices by doors on either side. He had all three rooms arranged in a particular arrangement when they had been moved into them. This way he could keep an eye on both of them as he worked. That had been the first time Azkadellia seen his laugh when he had stated what was to happen and DG glared at him. They had argued about dust and such from the construction that would have been needed to do it Cain's way. DG was all for leaving it all like it has been for centuries. Az couldn't take it and once she was sure what Cain was wanting, added the doors into the walls, solving the problem. The only thing that DG hated was that the only door to exit her offices was through his doors. Glitch had his own door to the out halls, but he more often than not just used Cain's.

Cain unlocks the double doors with a key in his vest, and enters the room. He takes off his fedora and tosses it to the hat stand as he shrugs off his duster. He drops it on the chair as he moves through the room, and stops behind his desk. He is staring out the windows, trying to get his mind on the here and now, to find out what has been happening to his DG while he was sent away to deal with Longcoats. Sent away by the woman who owns his heart. His mind shudders away from that thought, hoping that the two people behind him can explain this. He refuses to believe she did it because of having no feelings for him. Something happened that night of the Eclipse, and the woman that Cain fell in love seems to be pushed away. The DG he saw that night was not the same one he had fought with, protected with his life, and eventually fell in love with.

Ambrose frowns in the direction of his office, knowing the mess that Glitch had left behind for him. But nothing is worse than the mess with the one person he was supposed to keep safe. The person he loves, the person his brother in every way but blood, trusted him with keeping safe. Glitch's inability, even with Az's help, in figuring out what is happening to her led him to rejoin his brain. Even though he feared the loss of that love, he was willing to sacrifice it just to _know_ what was happening.

And now, here he is, whole for once again in body and mind, and his DG is gone, gone before he could question her, gone before he even had gotten to see her. Cain at least got to see her last night…

Standing tall at the windows, the light making a halo around his pale features, as the man stares down at the light from the suns brightening the ground below, Cain finally asks, "When did it all start?" _I need to get the facts together so that I can go after her._ And to be truthful to himself, to find out why she sent him away.

Not being able to take the pressure from the two men in front of her, Az sank into one of the armchairs that were in front of his desk. She lays her head back and bluntly tells them, "We need to lay everything all out on the table. Everything we know, suspect. And to do this, there is no blaming each other, no nothing but getting to the bottom of this. I can see us all doing it now, blaming the other for not taking caring of her, and it won't get much done but a lot of finger pointing. I suggest we send for Raw. He is the first one that went away, maybe he knows something." Az can see both of the men staring at her like she has grown a second head.

Az, suddenly remember that Cain wanted no one but the three of them to know what they are talking about. Thinking of a spell her sister had come up to keep the conversations in the workrooms as secretive as the three of them could have them, she sits up, concentrates, and then they see a ripple of white light around the perimeter of the room. She sags back in the chair, and the two men give her a moment to gather herself.

Finally Ambrose asks, "Wait, was that what DG used to do in the labs?" They had made a game of it with the colors.

Waiving her hand in thanks as Cain hands her a glass of water, Az answers him, "Just making sure no information is given out. I don't want anyone to know DG is gone, maybe it will let us know something when it is gotten out."

Cain nods, and he asks again, his voice harder, "When did it all start?" He needs to find out what he can with his out of the Royal family contacts. But they may not be able to help if DG had been wrapped up in things here in the Royal Palace as he suspects. First they need to find out if she left or was she taken?

Ambrose sits down as he says, "I don't know if it stopped." He raises his head to Cain's. The two stare at each other.

Cain just glares at the couple in front of him, not wanting to play a riddle game with them. He meets Ambrose's eyes, figuring he will get the most answers from him. He is getting to the point that he is starting to lose that temper of his. And DG is not here to lay a hand on his arm to cool him off.

Seeing the look, Az hurriedly tells him, "Remember the night of the Eclipse?" At Cain's short nod she continues, "DG was draining herself trying to heal all of the OZ. We stopped her, you broke the last tie of concentration with the slap."

Cain winces, still hurting inside for having harmed her. The sound of that slap has echoed more than a few times in his memory. Especially after he found that she had sent him away. He had never purposely hurt DG until that night.

Az saw the wince and tells him, "Don't, Cain. It was the only way to save her life. She would have drained herself dry and because DG is linked so closely to her magic, she would have killed herself." She suspects it has something to do with the fact that their mother gave so much of her Light to save her life that made her so linked and as one with her magic.

Ambrose nods. He then frowns as there is something there, on the tip of his tongue, bothering him. When he sees Cain's glance at him, he nods his head, telling him that he needs more time in order to put it all together.

Not seeing the silent communication between the two men, Az continues her story, "Remember the reason the Emerald hid itself in her locket?"

Thinking back, Cain answers, "To shield her and to train her." He frowns, remembering that the Emerald had made itself known to him last night. Was it trying to warn him?

Ambrose's forehead wrinkles in frustration, the pieces are falling together, but it just won't solidify! Ambrose knows he is only hours out of the Recovery Rooms, but he needs to get the two halves of his brain firing together, and fast!

The two are still remising about the early days, not noticing Ambrose's silence. Well, Az is not noticing, but Cain is, hoping against hope that the legendary intelligence of Ambrose can help them.

Nodding her head in agreement with Cain's statement, Az tells him, "DG was still draining herself trying to heal the OZ. The Emerald was helping for a period of time, but then, after all of you left, it seemed as if it started to falter in it's shielding of her." She frowned, remembering it had been so odd, but neither her nor her mother could find anything wrong with the Emerald. Then Lavender Eyes was sent out, and that just left Az trying to figure from afar what exactly was going on.

Frowning in thought, Cain asks, "What was so different about us being here and being gone?"

Ambrose's mind is still turning over, but he answers absently, "You were gone." Why won't the two pieces of his brain working?

Cain and Az turn to stare at him. Ambrose looks up and seeing their eyes on him, he asks, "What?" The look of bafflement of not knowing why they were looking at him; anger that they were expecting too much of him; resentment of himself for not being able to solve it right away.

Cain carefully asks him, "Why did it matter that I was gone? You were here, her parents were here, Az was still here, shoot, even the damn mutt was still here. What made me any different?" He is staring at Ambrose, knowing that he knows, and using his talents as a Tin Man and now as a Lord to coax it out of him.

Ambrose's eyes light up. He jumps up and he shouts, "That's it!" Oh how could he not have seen it all this time? Even Glitch should have seen this!

Az and Cain look at each other, waiting for the lightning bolt to hit them. When it doesn't, Cain drawls out, "Well, sweetheart, are you going to tell the rest of the class or keep it yourself?"

Ambrose stammers and blushes. He gives them a sheepish look as he tells them. "In answer to why you are any different from the rest of us, Cain, is that you never left DG alone. Even when we were working here in the offices, you kept the double doors between our offices open, and your desk is where you could watch her from here." He knew Cain also kept an eye on him, but only a blind man would not see why the offices are lined up that all Cain has to do is look up and be able to check on DG. He would have to turn his head for Ambrose's.

Cain's eyes swept up to the doors in question, nodding. "I nominated myself her body guard while I was here. I refused to allow anyone but you and I to be with her at all times." He could not trust anyone else with someone so precious to him.

Ambrose nods, continuing, "Now answer me this. How does DG, with no memory of her past, and probably no magical training of the level needed to know how to heal the OZ, _manage to start doing exactly that?_" He stares at them, his own anger starting to form. How could he?

Az gasps, realizing what he is saying. It is a magical feat that she knows how to do thanks to many years of dedicated magical training. Magical training that her sister had none of.

Before any of them can continue, there is a knock on Cain's door. Cain quickly draws his gun and moves to the door. Az's hands begin to glow and she nods to him along with Ambrose. Cain quickly opens the door and is pointing the gun at the knocker's face in one smooth move.

Jeb's face is surprised, but he comments calmly, "Well, if you don't want me here, I will go. But, next time Dad, just tell me, you don't need to pull your gun on me." The legendary calm of Cain has definitely been passed on to the next generation.

Cain just growls at his son and yanks him into the room. Then he turns and stares at Az as he waits for her to nod, letting him know that the room is protected again.

Jeb looks at his father, waiting patiently as he is still on the back of the door, held there by his father. Jeb has gotten to know his father during the annual away. The look on his face worries him, but he trusts his father.

Releasing his son as he holsters his gun, Cain just stares at his son. He comments dryly, "Made good time I can see. Some reason to that?" He stares at his son expectantly.

Jeb flushes lightly, his eyes flickering to the Princess.

Shaking his head and muttering under his breath about young love, Cain makes his way back to his desk. This time, he collapses in his chair, holding his face in his hands.

Jeb is watching his father, noticing the little things that tell him his father is not only in pain, worse than when he was gone, but that something has happened to make him angry.

Realizing his father isn't going to speak anytime soon, he turns and looks at Lord Ambrose.

Ambrose sighs, _how odd that the son has the same look as the father, with having not grown up with the man._ "DG is missing. Your father was sleeping in her antechamber, not able to make it to his rooms after seeing her. Somehow she disappeared. But we are also beginning to figure out some things that had been overlooked by all of us." Then Ambrose's normally warm expressive eyes turn hard as he remember exactly _who_ they think has made DG into who she is now.

Cain mutters, "I should have shot him when DG didn't trust him." He cannot believe that the one time DG had time trouble trusting someone didn't send a huge wave of caution through him. No matter that the mutt had shown her that he was from her past. The truth is that DG didn't trust him at first. And she had trusted so blindly so many other people she had not met before. Well, Glitch didn't count since neither knew each other at that point.

Jeb sharply glances over at his father, never thinking he would have ever heard those words from his father, his law abiding father that he still holds as his ideals.

Ambrose shocks the Commander even more, when he softly says, "If it is true, I wish you would have also. But again, this is all just a hypothesis." Even though he is very sure of his facts, he needs to leave it out there.

Az quietly inserts, "I would take your hypothesis over anyone's facts, Ambrose." She is still shocked that her childhood Tutor is the one that has done this to DG. But it fits everything, he is the one man that everyone had no problems leaving alone with DG. Except Cain, Cain had never left DG alone with the exception very few people. And Tutor was NOT on that list of people he trusted with his DG.

Jeb held back a flash of jealousy. He is trying to remember what his father had told him, Ambrose was completely in love with DG and has been since they were young. He was like an older brother to Azkadellia, and nothing else. But it is hard when the person you love looks as though she is in love with someone else. He is not sure how his father manages to even be friends with Ambrose.

Looking into her eyes, Ambrose rebukes her, "Your sister would argue with me." His mind goes back to those memories, bringing a slight smile to his lips as he remembers some of their telling arguments.

Azkadellia laughs, a startlingly light sound with what is being discussed just minutes prior, "Ambrose, DG would argue with you that the sky was blue if you had a hypothesis on it." She can't help it, if Ambrose needs to laugh, to remember DG as he loves her. Besides she is right, DG loved to argue with Ambrose because he would never state anything, just tell his hypothesis. DG made Ambrose a much stronger person.

A light shines from Ambrose's eyes that have been long lost. "She would challenge me on the very grounds that it was a hypothesis." Then that light fades as he murmurs, "But she never argued with me the entire time we were together."

Cain is the one that answers him, as the others stare at him in sympathy, "Because DG doesn't remember you that way. She grew up away from here, with her memories locked away." He also doesn't like seeing the man before him sad, he has spent way too much time being sad in that tank. Glitch is the happy go lucky side of Ambrose. It will take awhile for the two halves to merge fully back into the man he was before.

Jeb quietly asks, "So where were you guys at in figuring out what happened to her?"

Ambrose tells him, "We just figured out that DG was draining herself healing OZ, and someone had to teach her how. Since, as your father just reminded us, she grew up with no memory of this place, or even that she had magic." Ambrose eyes are still dark, and the undercurrent of anger is making its presence known. The happiness of prior minutes is completely gone, and the man who is angry that someone had purposely harmed the woman he loves is becoming much more prominent.

No less angry, Cain continues to answer his son as he grinds out, "How she had to send us all away, because we were all too close, especially me who wouldn't leave her alone, not even in her magic lessons." His hands are clenching in his anger. He needs to get a handle on this.

Azkadellia's hands are spitting white sparks as she spit out, "One of the few people left here in the Palace, who has been preempting all her free time?" And who they trusted her with. How could he?

Gasping as the pieces all fall together Jeb just stares at them as he asks and states, "Tutor? But why?"

Az told him, still angry she never noticed how well the pieces fit together, "And the follow up question is How? Jeb, the Emerald was supposed to be shielding her."

Jeb is still putting the pieces in his head together, to wrap his brain around it. He stutters out, "B-b-but he is one of the heroes!"

The three people in the room glare at him, Ambrose angrily asking, "Who told you that? He was never one of us! He tried to betray us, and it was only DG's plea that allowed him to stay!" He is glaring, this is the Ambrose no one in the Outer Zone had met.

Cain had started to say something, but then stopped, remembering. Ice cold blue eyes that are promising a cold hell for whoever has messed with his DG meets the dark angry one of Ambrose and neither flinches from the promise in the other's gaze. They are both in complete agreement with the fate of whoever has hurt her. Cain quietly states, "Ambrose, DG didn't trust him at the beginning. So tell me why, when we found out that he _was_ betraying us, did she advocate a second chance for him?"

Ambrose stares back at him, thinking it over. "I have no idea. Probably the same way he convinced her to give up her life for the OZ."

Jeb quietly inserts, "To think about it, you guys were all honored, you, dad became a lord and a suitor, Lord Ambrose here along with you are permanent peerage and Raw's village is now protected under the crown and in fact they, for the first time, own their own land, which is situated between the two of yours to protect it. But nothing was ever done about Tutor. And I can't tell you when Tutor's name was added to the hero's list." He is putting out all the puzzle pieces as he thinks of them, hoping that something he says will trigger something for them.

Az quietly answers from her own memories of the man, "He never liked being in the back ground, and he spoke out against the Witch quite often. That is why he was thrown into the dungeon for such a long time. The Witch promised him revenge on the one who released her, if he would do as she asked. She tortured him with the knowledge that she was the Wicked Witch of the West once Ambrose figured it out." She closes her eyes, trying to block out the memory of tortures the Witch had put her and others through.

Cain took a deep breath and then told the three of them in front of him, "We need to get Raw back. And the Queen and her Consort. Once they are all back, we will figure out how to get DG back." Plus he knows that Ambrose will not be staying here, and no Royal Command will make him do so. His status of a Suitor to DG will overrule everything. Cain knows this since he will be the same way.

The three start to plan while Jeb sits there, wrapping his head around everything. Something catches his attention, something he was going to ask Ambrose when the chance arose. "Ambrose, I have another puzzle for you, and I think they are tied together."

Turning to the young man beside him, Ambrose gives him his full attention. Unfortunately, so did his father and the Princess.

_Here goes nothing,_ Jeb thought. "I seem to remember that the walls of the Central City reflects the mood of the ruler of the OZ."

Ambrose nods, "The Grey Gale loved the Emerald Walls, to the point she spelled them that way, that way no one could take away the wonder of the Emerald City. The city walls remained as bright as emeralds until the day she died. They darkened and many were upset, thinking they had lost one of the more memorable of the Grey Gale's magics. However, they brightened back up when the new ruler of the OZ, The Grey Gale's daughter, became cheerful and it has been that way ever since then, the walls reflects the deep feelings of who it recognizes as Queen."

Then his brain catches up with what he is saying and he gapes.

Az's hands are raised to her face in shock and she is saying "How can it be? Mother is here!"

Everyone is shocked. Finally Cain took pity on his son and tells him, "The walls reflect the deep feelings of the true Queen of the OZ. And it thinks DG is that ruler."

Jeb is staring at his father and he asks, "And if DG can't be found?"

Az answers softly, "The OZ will start to deteriorate even faster. The magic of the OZ demands a ruler. And somehow it has chosen DG as it's Queen."

Cain states, "We will find her, before the OZ gets any worse. Even more importantly, we will find her to bring her back home to where she is loved."

Then a thought crosses his mind and he stares at Ambrose with a mischievous look in his eyes. When Ambrose raises his eyebrow in questions, Cain states, "Plus she still needs to decide on a Consort."

* * *

><p><strong><strong>Final count<strong>: 5,501**

**Fairfarren~Wendy.**


	4. Chapter 3 We Were Waiting 4 Each Other

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. So are any other plot lines and such I may be using… Unless they are my own then I own that crap.**

**Edited and reposted 05/15/2013**

**Word count before editing: 3,120 **

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: All This Time _by OneRepublic_._**

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Everyone is shocked. Finally Cain took pity on his son and tells him, "The walls reflect the deep feelings of the true Queen of the OZ. And it thinks DG is that ruler."_

_Jeb is staring at his father and he asks, "And if DG can't be found?"_

_Az answers softly, "The OZ will start to deteriorate even faster. The magic of the OZ demands a ruler. And somehow it has chosen DG as it's Queen."_

_Cain states, "We will find her, before the OZ gets any worse. Even more importantly, we will find her to bring her back home to where she is loved." _

_ Then a thought crosses his mind and he stares at Ambrose with a mischievous look in his eyes. When Ambrose raises his eyebrow in questions, Cain states, "Plus, she still needs to decide on a Consort."_

_Now:_

* * *

><p>The two suns have made their way across the sky, not caring that some of the denizens of the land below are worried, and trying with all their wishing to make them go slower. They march to their own cosmic timing that is heedless to the wishes of the world below them.<p>

On the highest towers, the last of the sunlight is glinting off the walls and windows of Central City. In one of those windows, Cain is looking out of his office window, his back to the maps on his desk and the man slumped in a chair behind the desk. Cain just stands there, his jaw clenched in complete fury as he runs through everything in his head on how this situation just keeps getting worse and worse. The only thing preventing him from venting said frustration is that he knows Ambrose is just as frustrated as he is.

Somehow, even with all the attempts to keep quiet, Tutor has gone missing. This one fact has frustrated Cain to no end. He had looked forward to arresting the man who had somehow tortured DG right under his very nose. He thought back on their trip and can remember one particular time when DG had given a hint of the spell. Cain had not picked up it up at the time, and it is slowly driving him mad that he could have prevented so much if he had. It is one of the things that when he finally gets his hands on DG he will discuss with her. Right after he tells her how much he loves and adores her of course.

Going back through all the plans and discussions that they have made, he tries to see if they have missed anything. Lavender and Ahamo are on their way back by travel storm and should be arriving any time now. The last member of their party, Raw, had walked into the city late last night as they finished their talk, saying he had felt the need for him to be here. As soon as Lavender had arrived, Cain and the rest of them had originally planned to leave. Now however, they are so frustrated that they have no idea where DG could have gone, and whether she had gone of her own will or not.

The City walls have slowly been getting darker over the past annual. Now that Jeb has pointed it out to them, they had looked into it, asking questions of the newly reformed Tin Man Headquarters as well as the Royal Guards. They had been shocked to find out that over the past few months they have darkened, not enough that anyone who casually observes the world around them has really noticed, but if you knew what to look for, you can see it. It is another manifestation that there had indeed been signs all around them telling them that all was not well in the OZ or with DG, and further confirmation that the two were connected.

Az has been in the libraries all day looking for signs in how Tutor had influenced DG during the journey to find the Emerald. It is really bothering her since both Cain and Ambrose have stated that they could not remember ever leaving her with the man alone. In fact, they both specifically remember making an effort to never leave her alone without one of them, or, if for some reason they were not there, they had made sure that at least Raw had been with her on the entire journey. Raw is as loyal and loving of DG as the rest of them, and they knew he would never do anything or allow anything to harm DG. But when Tutor showed up, and DG's original instinct to distrust him, well, Cain never forgot that and made sure to keep an eye on her. She may have trusted Toto after she remembered him, but the fact that she had distrusted anyone at first sight, well, as confused as he had been at the time with his feelings for her, he still paid attention.

Originally Jeb had tried to help his Dad and Ambrose, but soon left to go help Az. Cain had no patience and Jeb soon found that as bad he had been when he had been with him, nothing compared to now. Realizing that his father was not upset with him per se, he decided to leave him to the only other person that could deal with him right now. Besides DG, of course.

When Jeb had left the office, Ambrose had looked after him then looked at Cain with his eyebrow raised. Cain had just shaken his head and went back to trying to find DG. Ambrose knew he is as frantic to find her as Cain was, but the steel in Cain's eyes told Ambrose that what he had tried to do all those months ago is complete. Cain had totally committed himself to DG.

Right now everyone is looking for her, but in a waiting pattern. They truthfully have no idea where she is, but Cain just wants to be doing something. Ambrose understands, and tries to help, but there are just no leads. There are just not many places they can think she would be that she thinks is safe. DG hasn't been here long enough nor has enough of her memories surfaced for her have fond feelings for anywhere in the OZ unfortunately.

This feeling of failure has lead to where none of the staff in the Palace wants to be close to the Lords, nor to any of the original Heroes and Az. Even Raw had been on edge, feeling the O.Z.'s need for DG. Food is left on the outside of the doors, only a knock outside the two locations to let the individuals inside know it is there.

Not being able to help himself, Cain turns to Ambrose and lets out some of his frustration, by growling out, "Why is it so hard to find one Princess of the O.Z.? What use are these Bonds of ours if we cannot use it to find her?" He cannot help it; there is something inside just driving him to find her, the same something that has always driven him to her side since he first saw her blue eyes.

Staring at first at the Tin Man, Ambrose then closes his eyes in defeat. He wearily answers, "I have no idea. I still have no idea how Lavender had blocked my Bond with DG where I had actually thought she was dead. Cain, I am just as frustrated as you are. But what can we really do?" He feels as though he is being pulled apart slowly. He needs to find DG, but he also needs the man in front of him, his brother, to be calm. Well, as calm as Cain can be with DG in danger.

At that moment, Cain's doors flew open. Az and Jeb both rush in, Az's face looks worried but triumphant. Jeb, however, never looks his father in the eye, choosing to turn and close the doors; once he has made sure there is no one close. The only reason he doesn't lock them is due to the Royal Couple's impending arrival.

Cain looks up at them, hoping for any news. Anything to end this waiting game.

Az looks at him and tells him, "I know how he did it. And right now, if I find him, I will destroy him. He put a whisper spell on her." The anger she has is causing her to lose control, it shows briefly, and is enough to have a lesser man than Wyatt Cain retreating before her.

At the name of the spell, Ambrose's face drains and he collapses in his chair. He asks, his voice disbelieving, "A whisper spell? I thought they were banned!" _This is just getting worse and worse…_ Ambrose thinks to himself.

Fighting for control, Azkadellia takes a deep breath. Once she can at least talk, Az nods, confirming Ambrose's question. She expands on it, commenting, "The witch didn't even use them. They have a bad habit of driving the person insane, depending on the whisper. You have to have a very delicate touch to be able to have someone not lose their sanity." Her eyes flash as she remembers the descriptions she read in the books. That spell was thought to be lost and for good reason!

While the two are staring at each other, Cain looks at them, trying to figure out what they are talking about. He finally asks, "Whisper spell?"

Jeb looks at his dad. He knows that once he finds out he will be at least as mad as Az, but he will not collapse as Ambrose did. No, his father will need to do _something_.

DG is to Jeb the sister of the woman he loves, the love of his father's life as well as the person most like a sister to him. He remembers her as joking lightly with him once they had joined on the way to the Tower. She had been slightly withdrawn from everyone, but he remembers his shock in her being in front of his father on the horse. Cain had refused to let her go, and kept his arm around her until they reached the Tower. He had only said, "Guess you found her."

She had laughed and told him, "More like I found him. He came charging up on his horse, only to find me outside my prison. At least this time he was happier." Her eyes had been sad, but as they talked, they became more alive.

His father had tightened his arm around her as he replied, "I wasn't about to shoot you this time." DG had been looking down, but Jeb had seen the love in his father's eyes as well as the conflict he was dealing with present as well.

DG had glibly answered him, "Only because no one hit anyone else." She had grinned at Jeb.

That had started it and the rest of the way he had teased the story out of them both. Then he and DG had picked on his father the rest of the way there. It had relieved the stress of the suicide mission they all thought they were on.

Bringing his mind back to the present, Jeb remembers that after Az told him what the spell did, he wanted to hurt someone, anyone responsible. In fact, there is a large hole in one of the library's walls in the shape of his fist. No one should _ever_ have that done to them.

Azkadellia looks at Cain and tells him, "It is a spell that starts an insidious little whisper in the ear of the receiver that sounds like their inner voice. It tells them whatever the spell caster wants them to believe until the victim believes it completely. It is one of the smart spells, which means every little thing that can back up the whisper, it will pounce and use it to help further it's cause." Her temper flares, her magic flaring with it.

Cain just stares at Az, processing what she is telling him.

Rubbing his face, Ambrose explains in detail, remembering what he had read, "If you tell the spell that you want the person to think that everyone is against them, it will take every instance that someone tells them no, every look is interpreted to be a look of hate. It will not be constant, but near enough to sound like your own thoughts." His DG is under this spell? Ambrose's heart aches for the woman he loves. How could someone do this to her? What has she ever done to deserve this?

Unnoticed by the group, a slight emerald haze is surrounding the Tin Man as his understanding dawns. His eyes are growing icier as he realizes what was done to the woman who is the center of his universe.

Startling the group inside the room, Lavender's voice sounds out from the doorway from which she has overheard everything, "If you told the spell that everything is your fault, every single thing that is wrong with the O.Z., it will feed on all those instances to help it's victim believe it. For example, it would use the fact that she set the Witch free; that I gave her my life force and magic to bring her back, but it left me too weak to defend against the Witch." She and Ahamo had stopped in shock when they heard what spell was cast on their daughter.

Ambrose's voice is more stricken as he realizes that he is being used as a reason to cause DG pain. He expounds on his Queen's explanation, "That my brain was removed for a device to help the Witch."

Ahamo guides his frozen wife into the room, his face as stricken as his wife's. He remembers DG's comments in the balloon and throws it in the conversation, "That we were separated for the 15 annuals. That the Mystic Man, her uncle, lost his life."

All eyes flick to Cain as his voice finally speaks. His jaw is almost locked as he grinds out, "That I was locked in a Tin Suit, that I lost my wife." His face and posture told them that he understood, and he is enraged that this spell is using him to hurt her.

Lavender glides to a stop in front of him, looking into his eyes, her own full of misery. "Every single thing wrong in the O.Z. would be used to make her think that the only way to fix it all is to kill herself. It would have probably been a relief to the constant guilt she would have been feeling by then." Her eyes were sad as she finally has an answer to why DG had tried to kill herself.

Ambrose softly states, "Oh what misery she had to feel when we stopped her…"

Not completely understanding Ambrose's comment, Cain is having problems believing that this spell was on his DG. He quickly asks, challenging them, "How could any of us not see it?"

The green glow is brightening, but through the grief in the room, no one notices.

The last of the original companions enters the room, locking the door behind him. Raw reminds Cain, "DG say good bye before battle. DG being serious. DG going to get Az back. She not expect to survive." The truth he had hidden in confusion all this time finally comes out. It finally makes sense.

Cain closes his eyes remembering the pep talks. His shoulders drop as he remembers that the words spoken did sound like a goodbye now that he thought back to it. He told them, despair evident in his voice, "I told her she had to make it though. It wasn't a choice." His eyes are open and they can see the misery in them as he tries to understand what happened.

Ambrose lifts his eyes to meet his brother's, stating to him, "And that may have saved her life." He loves DG. No one could question it; he refused to lose the Bond with her, giving up his chance for love later in life. But he is watching the man in front of him, the only other man that he would even consider the thought, that this man would be the one for his DG. That Wyatt Cain may be the one that will make the person he loves happier than he could.

Not knowing of the conclusion that her friend is reluctantly coming to, Az loyally sticks up for Ambrose, "All of you, and your obvious care for her, is probably what allows her to remain sane." She has always respected Ambrose and the pure love he has had for her sister. She knows Cain loves DG, but the fact Ambrose sacrificed so much for her could not and should not be forgotten.

This time, it does not slip by. Cain picks up on a fact that if true, would infuriate him. Toto will not be able to escape his wrath when Cain finds him. Cain's eyes blaze as he repeats, "Remain? You mean that Ozma forsaken spell is on her still?" If he is right, there is no place the mutt can hide from him.

Flinching as he realizes he has never seen Cain so enraged, Ambrose nods, "There would be no reason for Tutor to remove it." He makes himself a promise to never incur this man's wrath. Though his brain told him that as long as he never hurts someone Cain loves, he wouldn't be subjected to it.

Cain's jaw sets and his eyes are ice cold; his body is rigid with his rage. He grinds out, "How do you break it?" He needs to save DG first. Then, after he is sure she is safe, he will declare open season on the shape shifter.

The only person who could answer him, Ambrose looks at him. Az may have figured it out, but Ambrose had researched it in depth when he first arrived at the palace. He answers him in a dead voice, "The reason I know about the spell is that I knew the last person it was cast on. Mercifully, the person died shortly afterwards and while the spell was for a beneficial reason, or at least that was what the spell caster had intended, at the end it had totally driven them insane. The spell caster had been so very careful in his casting, it being the last resort for healing the man." His eyes told Cain that Ambrose had witnessed the whole thing, including the end.

Ambrose could not help but think, _How could DG have survived this long?_ Ambrose will never tell Cain that it had taken less than 2 months to drive the man insane under the spell. DG has been under the spell for so much longer.

Making everyone jump, Cain's fist hits the top of his desk as he tells them in a voice not to be questioned, "I refuse to believe that." He will _never_ give up on his DG. **_Ever_.**

Everyone stares at the enraged man in front of them. Cain has been pushed again and again over the past few days. The woman he loves is falling apart, believing that everything is her fault. He can't do anything to the person who did it to her since they had run away from him, nor can he find her to fix her. Everything in the man is screaming at him to protect her, and he has _no_ idea where she is.

Ambrose is just staring at Cain, knowing how he feels. He wants nothing more than to tear into _something _or more accurately_ someone_. His DG has been hurt by so much, in such a short time. Her time in the O.Z. has revealed pain and betrayal from everyone but her three companions. Her parents sent her away, her memories wiped. She had to deal with the fact that her sister wanted her dead, and in fact did kill her, before she found out about the witch possessing her. She was raised by robots, and now, her own teacher, that is one of the few individuals she remembers from her childhood, has been telling her that she is the reason the O.Z. is a mess. Knowing the girl, and then later the woman she has become, it would not take much from the spell to make her believe.

On the same thought process as Ambrose, Cain is breathing heavy and he mutters, "What else can this world do to her? Doesn't she deserve some happiness?" He is shaking as he realizes how much this world has caused his DG so much pain, and he cannot find her to try to help comfort her, be with her.

The heartfelt grief and rage mixed together from the man who loves DG more than anything else is enough for the Emerald and Grey Gale to appear. Everyone gapes at the woman who is one of the most revered of the Queens of OZ.

She is standing there, looking at both Ambrose and Cain, sorrow on her face. She tells both of them honestly, "You both care and love her so much. Because of this, you have helped power the Emerald in it's attempts to block the spell. However, it will take the love of someone who holds her very life above their own to break it. You will need to convince her that she **_is_** loved. So simple, yet this will be the largest challenge. My namesake is stubborn." A rueful smile graces her beautiful face.

Cain and Ambrose can't help but smile in answer. It is truthful, and one of the reasons both these men love her.

Dorothy looks upon her namesake's suitors and finds both worthy. One has loved and waited for her. He has sacrificed much for the love he bears her, but he has never lost his devotion to the girl he loved and even without a brain, he fell in love with her all over again as she is now. The other loves her fiercely and devotedly. He too has sacrificed much to love her and right now fights for her. He had fought against the love at the beginning, denying the bond he had felt when he met her eyes, thinking it had betrayed his previous love, but that fight ended up making him love her even more as she accepted her fate, and helped in his grief. Either of them will be able to break the spell, but one was destined to do so. It will take them and the rest to heal her; they just had to get through to her.

Dorothy looks at her descendants and the Companions and told them, "The O.Z. has acknowledged her as the next Queen, and as such, it is demanding her return, or else everything I and my descendants have worked for will be lost. To get her back, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man will need to journey again. Because of the betrayal of Toto, joining them instead will be the Host, and the Griffon. This party, and no other, will be the ones to bring her back to you healed. You will need to journey along the Yellow Brick Road to visit the place where she left here. It is the easiest path to her, being one that was used in the past. This is only the beginning of the quest. Once you journey back over the rainbow, your biggest challenge will await you all."

She looks at them all, sorrow in her eyes. "I truly hope you can achieve the first step. She unknowingly traveled my path, and now you need to go back in a straight line back to her. Unfortunately it is now a crooked path." She turns to Ambrose and Cain. "You both have my blessings on your courtship of my great granddaughter and well wishes on you being able to heal her." With that, she leaves in a blast of emerald light.

Lavender sits down heavily in one of the chairs in the room, Ahamo coming up to support her. "Oh, my poor Angel." This is nothing she had wanted for her angel. She had wanted her to relax and just be herself. Lavender had even tried to talk to her to find out what was the best way to have DG learn what she needed, though that conversation had not been fruitful, she at least now knew why. She just wants for her daughters to be happy, and she has failed completely with one.

However, Ambrose sits up. He is the first to realize that the Grey Gale has given them what they have needed. He looks over at Cain and sees the same hope in his eyes. He grins as he tells Cain, "Well, here is what you wanted. A direction." His eyes come alive.

Ahamo looks over them, and asks, "What do you mean?" He is confused and hating this. He normally can think on his feet, but this is taking too much from him.

Looking down at the maps in front of him with renewed vigor, Cain answers the Consort, "The Grey Gale told us who needed to go and where. At least a starting point." A way to save his DG, that being his main priority, truthfully it was his only priority.

Az is smiling, catching on to what the two Suitors have realized. "The Yellow Brick Road. I haven't heard it called that except in the legends."

Jeb straightens out and muses, "The Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man. I never put it together before, however it fits. But who is the Host?"

Az grins at him. "Well, I think one of them is me. Tell me who else could be called the Host." She recognized the name, Griffon from the Witch's memory. She is trying to figure out who it had been; the man had been a military genius.

Jeb's face darkens as he retorts, "Unwilling."

Lavender looks over at him and then glances at Cain. She is watching them, waiting for them to realize who the Griffon is. He had revealed himself when she had taken back the throne in secret. There are too many Longcoats who hunted the Griffon for the man to feel easy in admitting in public who he is.

Thinking on it, remembering all the missives and intelligence on the man, Ambrose figure it out, but like Lavender, is waiting for the rest of them to figure it out also.

Jeb looks over at his father, asking, "Do you want me to gather supplies and get everything ready for you?"

Cain just nods, as he stares at his son. He too has read the intelligence reports.

Jeb looks over at Az and sighs. He bows to Lavender and her Consort, moving to the doors, already working to figure out what they will need.

Cain finally tells his son, "Make sure you provide for the Griffon." His voice is full of pride as he watches his son.

Jeb stops in his tracks. He nods his head, but before he can go any farther, Az explodes. "For the Sake of Ozma! Who is the Griffon? You all know."

Jeb turns around and his eyes first go to Az then to his father's. He grins as he asks his father, "How long ago did you figure it out?"

Az sputters as Cain answers him, "Just now, but I _did_ have other things to think about. I dismissed it when the intelligence report came across my desk, having DG to worry about. But now that I think on it, you are the only one it could be."

Jeb just grins and tells him, "You should have realized it. You are the one that taught me."

Cain just shakes his head and comments, "Well, it only took countless hours to teach you the difference between a knight and a rook. I had given up on you ever realizing that strategy was good for anything. "

Chuckling, Jeb nods and hurries out of the room, to get them ready. Knowing his father and Ambrose, they will want to be on the road as soon as possible.

Az is just staring at his back, shocked that the man who had been by her side all day is the man who had kept the Resistance going all those years. She then cocks her head to the side with a small smile as she thinks.

Laughing at the princess's expression, Ambrose turns back to Cain. His amusement is evident as he comments, "So we need to retrace our tracks along the Old Brick Road."

Cain nods, and not being able to help himself, teases him, "And again, I will be the one guiding. We all know that the Scarecrow had no sense of direction." Just knowing where they need to go is enough to stop the pain from whatever has driven him all this time. He will find his love.

Ambrose grins at him, more than able to hold his own now. "But they also say the Tin Man had no heart. So tell me which will be better on this journey?" He can't help it, he too feels lighter knowing that with a Cain in charge. Especially the Griffon in charge of supplies, the man had kept his people fed in a time that food was hard to come by.

Raw had come up, looking down at the map tells them both absently; "Lion had heart. So Raw is one to heal DG." One look at his eyes and you can see the same relief that is in his companion's eyes. And also mirrored is the mirth he is having in picking on them.

Cain and Ambrose look at him shocked. Az and the rest of the room erupt in laughter.

Az is laughing then she tells them both, "You know, I think you are the first ones to ever be approved by the Grey Gale herself as Suitors to the Royal House. I wonder if that will help you two any."

The relief of having a direction is quickly relieving the grief in the room, as well as knowing that there is a way to save DG. That hope infuses the group with a sense of purpose. They will heal her and whatever is next on their plate, they will handle together.

Still joking as they look over the map and prepare themselves, Ambrose just answers back, "Azkadee honey, all that means is that she recognizes that we are the only two men who could measure up to DG." He chuckles as he realizes that the history that is all but lost to the O.Z. is going to lead them. A bunch of legends really.

Shocking them all, Ahamo dryly remarks, "I am not too sure that will help me sleep at night. My daughter is being courted by a Scarecrow and a Tin Man. How low can she get?" He smirks at the two men as the rest of them chuckle.

Cain is smiling, his nature a little more relaxed that he is going to be working towards DG. "At least she isn't being courted by a flying monkey." He stands up folding the map, looking to see if they may need another one. Hope is a powerful tool in the hands of a Tin Man who will stop at nothing to save the woman he loves.

Ahamo laughs, but he comments, "Make sure you take along extra oil and stuffing, I think you two will need all the help you can get." The group all laugh, not knowing that this comment reveals more of their pasts than any of them realize.

* * *

><p><strong>Final count: 5,671 Words<strong>

**Fairfarren~Wendy**


	5. Chapter 4 Believe in Destiny

**Yes, it has been a long time. I have this story done up to 15 chapters, and we haven't touched this one hardly. What happened? Well, I got really, really sick. Then when I was talked into coming back, FanFiction had their great purge of M rated fics that had content not suitable. Since I was coming back, and had a new story and Beta, I decided to move to WordPress, and edit all these stories that didn't have a Beta to begin with.**

**This turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. Now this is one of the stories who hooked my beta on me. But, we were working HARD on moving things over. During the time I was gone, I lost my job, so while I had the time, she didn't. Fast forward another year, and I was getting popular on WordPress and ended up with my own Facebook group. (imagine that!) I put out a plea for Beta's... they popped up EVERYWHERE! MissRissa81 asked me to give her a story, and I eagerly gave her this one. She watched the movie... and has my entire Beta team hooked on this. She has been working on this and now you guys get the first of many new chapters.**

**If you haven't, go back and reread the other chapters, I reposted them for the edits.**

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. I just spend until 2am working out plot points with an awesome friend. **

**Word count before editing: 3,384 **

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: Return to Innocence _by Enigma_._**

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Az is laughing then she tells them both, "You know, I think you are the first ones to ever be approved by the Grey Gale herself as Suitors to the Royal House. I wonder if that will help you two any." _

_The relief of having a direction is quickly relieving the grief in the room, as well as knowing that there is a way to save DG. That hope infuses the group with a sense of purpose. They will heal her and whatever is next on their plate, they will handle together._

_Still joking as they look over the map and prepare themselves, Ambrose just answers back, "Azkadee honey, all that means is that she recognizes that we are the only two men who could measure up to DG." He chuckles as he realizes that the history that is all but lost to the O.Z. is going to lead them. A bunch of legends really._

_Shocking them all, Ahamo dryly remarks, "I am not too sure that will help me sleep at night. My daughter is being courted by a Scarecrow and a Tin Man. How low can she get?" He smirks at the two men as the rest of them chuckle._

_Cain is smiling, his nature a little more relaxed that he is going to be working towards DG. "At least she isn't being courted by a flying monkey." He stands up folding the map, looking to see if they may need another one. Hope is a powerful tool in the hands of a Tin Man who will stop at nothing to save the woman he loves._

_Ahamo laughs, but he comments, "Make sure you take along extra oil and stuffing, I think you two will need all the help you can get." The group all laugh, not knowing that this comment reveals more of their past than any of them realize._

_Now:_

* * *

><p>The twin suns were getting close to setting as they shed their light on the scene on the main stables just outside the Central City. Five horses are ready, waiting for their riders to mount, the packhorse was also ready.<p>

Az was standing there petting her black horse and talking soothingly to him. One of her few joys when she was under the control of the Witch was riding Alric. She never could figure out why the witch allowed it, but she took advantage of it when she knew she could get away with it.

Az looks over at the others in the party. Her eyes linger briefly on Jeb, and she smiles quietly to herself. She has no doubt she will enjoy learning more about this Cain. They have talked in the past, she remembered him mentioning it was odd that his father is almost the same age as he is. That started a lot of late night conversations. She had been disappointed when he was sent off. But she cannot be mad at her sister for doing so when she is suffering so much right now. DG had even at a young age taken the blame for far too much.

Looking over at Ambrose, she remembers how he had slowly taught DG to be concentrate. Her magic lessons had been hard, she remembers the spinning doll. But shortly after Ambrose had started to be around her, he had helped with his workroom.

Az frowned, remembering how so many jealous nobles had protested when he had been allowed to be her Suitor at such a young age. It was not unheard of, especially when you think of the fact that they lived such long lives. Ambrose had survived the testing, showing that he truly cared for her.

Az then smiles, remembering how Cain had already proved himself. When he finally asked for permission to Court DG, the magic had just faded into him. It was the fastest that it had ever happened, Az thinks that it was their quest and his wholehearted dedication to her sister to be the reason it happened. As much as she loves the idea of Ambrose being her brother, she knows that Cain loves her sister just as much, if not more. It truly will be up to DG to choose this time. The old love from childhood that she doesn't even remember that turned into a love for whom she is now, or the man who fell in love with her, fighting it until he couldn't help but admit he was in love with her. And once admitting it, gave into it with nothing less than giving his whole heart to her?

Raw comes up to the princess's side. He watches everyone else with her and made the comment, "This will be interesting."

Az answers him as she smiles, "Yes, it will be."

Her smile falters though. Jeb has been casting her looks and makes his way to her side. Raw sees him and fades away as he asks, "What is wrong, Az?

She looks over at him. "I am worried about Deeg. How is she holding out? Where is Tutor? How can he do this to her?"

Cain has mounted Silver and overhears Az. He turns in the saddle to her, his face hard as he answers her question. "I am not sure how she is, or where Tutor is. And it is just my guess, but I think it started when she didn't trust him. And only got worse when he found out she was to blame. He helped her only when it was in his best interest to get rid of the Witch. In fact, he was with us when we overthrew the Witch. He only found her to save us when she was in the Mausoleum."

Ambrose has also mounted his brown horse and moves his horse over to them. His voice is soft as he explains. "He was locked up for a long time. I know he was captured before me, and unlike me, for some reason the Witch kept him all those annuals. He had nothing but time to think of how much he hated her. And then to find out that DG is the reason?" He shakes his head. He really has no idea how Tutor didn't go mad down below. Or maybe that is what happened, that he really is mad from all those years locked in a cell below the Tower?

Az thinks back to when Tutor was released. She gasps and if Jeb had not been there to catch her, she would have fallen to the ground.

Jeb anxiously asks, "Princess?" For a second there, he sounds exactly how his father does in talking to DG and it makes both Raw and Ambrose look over at their Cain.

He is just looking down at Az, waiting to find out what had happened, having a feeling that it is the reason that all this started.

Az has tears in her eyes as she looks past Jeb to his father and Ambrose. She tells them, "The Witch. She told him."

Ambrose's eyes widen as Cain sits up straight. Cain's face is hard and his eyes like ice. But it isn't him who spits out, "What?"

Az starts at hearing Ambrose's voice so hard. Jeb tightens his arms for a second, but he relaxes as he realizes the adviser isn't in fact attacking Az.

Ambrose's mind is ticking over the information. The Witch had told Tutor who had released her? He had always wondered what it was that actually got him to agree to betray them, or more importantly to betray her. He actually betrayed everyone. He betrayed the Witch in helping them defeat her. And he betrayed them by being there to get his revenge against DG. His face hardens even farther, his eyes dark pools of hate. The mutt had been out to hurt DG the entire time and he didn't catch it, in fact he had been blaming Cain for not having a heart and warming to the shape shifter. He is a Traitor, and the O.Z. has it's own brand of justice for those so branded, for those who have betrayed everyone.

Cain had looked over at Ambrose's outburst and watches him. He finally tells him, "He fooled all of us. He was supposed to _help_ DG. Remember what the Grey Gale said? He was supposed to be part of us, Toto. Toto was Dorothy's dog, but he helped them out. Tutor gave in to his baser self and failed everyone. Ambrose, you did nothing wrong. I was cold hearted, fighting my feelings for DG, while you left your heart out there for her and all of us. Never blame yourself." Then he grins, "We will be needing your wide eyed optimism for this. Don't fail us now."

Ambrose's eyes lighten and he nods. He looks down at the woman he thinks of as a sister and apologizes. "I know it is not your fault Az. Never think I ever blame you for the actions of the Witch."

Az nods then turns her gaze to the man holding her. She smiles at him and asks softly, "Jeb, don't you think we should get on our horses so we can get moving?"

Jeb starts at the sound of her voice and holding her close for a second longer, he releases her, saying, "Sorry, Az."

She laughs and tells him, "I didn't mind." No, she does not mind this handsome young man holding her close…

He blushes, helps her up and then into the saddle. He turns and going towards his own horse, he passes by the three companions and can see their amused expressions. He growls, "Leave it alone."

Cain smirks as he watches his son. He is sitting relaxed in the saddle, the reins in his hands as they rest on the saddle horn. Once his son is on his horse, he nods and moves them out. He is in the lead, directing them along the Old Brick road, remembering what the original Gale had said. That they needed to travel her path along with their own. He sighs, knowing they will need to head to the Papay fields first, where Raw had been found. He glances back, seeing Ambrose, then the Princess, then Raw, with his son behind him. He nods, knowing this is the best grouping he can do with the road being narrow in certain areas.

As they move down the road, each of the companions reminiscent on their past. The three companions remember DG and how she had been either amazed or confused about the world around them. She would see something that would blow her mind away, a fairy in a tree waiving at her, a tree smiling at her. She always looked to either Cain or Glitch, at the time, to make sure she was really seeing it.

Then there will be the times she was confused, a memory of a past she didn't know was her own would come bubbling up. Cain remembers the first time she had one, he had been suspicious of her. Well, to be truthful, he had been suspicious of her from the second he had seen her. The bond that he had felt with her had so outweighed the one he had shared with Adora that he automatically fought against it. He had done everything he could to distance himself from her, and only started to admit his feelings when he found himself abandoning his quest for revenge upon learning that she was in danger, he did this without a moments hesitation.

Closing his eyes briefly, he remembers how hard his heart had beat when he couldn't find her. Then the moment it stopped when he realized she was a princess. The worst was when he realized who Glitch was. That Glitch was really Ambrose and that he was the Suitor for the woman he has fallen so in love with. More than just fallen in love with if he was being truthful. By that time, Cain held some affection for the Headcase, and he started to push his feelings away.

He grinned briefly as he remembers when they were working to get him well enough to go after DG after the fall into the lake. He remembers his absolute _need_ to get to his DG was what had allowed him to drag himself as far as he had. Afterwards, Glitch had quietly told him that he knows Cain is in love with DG and he will step back.

* * *

><p><em>Cain had been shocked and just said, "What, why?"<em>

_Glitch had quietly just continued to add wood to the stove. He finally sighed and told him, "Your first question was where she was. Nothing else. And while you were out, you talked."_

_Cain leaned back in the pillow and closed his eyes, faint red pinking his ears. "What did I say?"_

_Still not looking at the Tin Man, he told him, "You were muttering on how this could happen, you are still in love with Adora. Then…"_

_Cain took a deep breath and told him, "Continue. Let me hear it all."_

_Glitch finally looks at him. "You mentioned that you felt the bond so much stronger with her. Stronger than with anyone else in your entire life." At Cain's groan, he smiled slightly then mentioned, "You also mentioned how you could never Court a Princess and-" He caught himself._

_Cain looked up. It was not like the Zipperhead to just stop talking. It normally took one of them to get him to stop. "Glitch?"_

_Glitch just sighed. "You also said you were going to not even try because she already had a suitor, and in your eyes, he was a good man." He looked into Cain's eyes. "Cain, I know my marbles are elsewhere. I also know I care for DG in a way I can't explain. But if you love her, if you already have a bond, don't give up. DG deserves the best…"_

_And before he could put himself down, Cain interrupted him. "And she has them. She will just have to choose. But until then, we have enough on our plates and will need to do everything to keep her safe. So, brothers?"_

_Glitch's normal smile spread on his face. "Brothers. Just know I will be working hard to make her mine." _

_Grinning back at him, Cain told him, " Wouldn't want it any other way, Headcase. I'll try to take it easy on you, I don't want to win just cause you don't have your marbles." _

_They had grinned at each other, and that was the start of their partnership. _

* * *

><p>Cain looks around to make sure they are fine, judging the path against the light left by the two moons. He asked, "Does anyone have any trouble with pushing through until we get to the edge of the Papay Fields?"<p>

Jeb glanced up and just told them, "I prefer if we stop an hour away, father. Give some cushioning if we need it."

Cain nodded and they continued on.

Ambrose looked off to the side, remembering how bad he had been on the trip there, non stop talking! But to be truthful, he had been confused by the woman he had met. He had felt such a strong Bond with her and had no idea why. Even now he doesn't understand why he didn't recognize DG right away, the Suitor Bond should have let him know who she was instantly.

He remembers how much he had trusted her right away. And how jealous he had been when she had opened the Tin Suit and Cain had fallen out. The first person Cain saw was her, and he had seen the flash of emotion across his face. He had not understood it, but he had looked over at DG, knowing somehow that it would change for them.

He also remembers better than Cain when Glitch became completely aware of Cain's feelings. It was after they had rescued Raw and were trying to get warm. Ambrose's ears turn slightly red at how he didn't even offer DG his coat to get warm.

But the fun started when she went to Raw to talk. Both he and Cain had moved to protect her. Afterwards, Cain being exasperated with her had made even Glitch realize that the man had feelings for the lost slipper.

The more that Glitch's feelings of love and admiration for the Slipper grew, it had been increasingly amusing to watch Cain fight his emotions. Now Ambrose can understand why. He had felt guilty that he was feeling love for someone when to him his wife had just passed away. And even Ambrose had heard of the love the Tin Man had for his family. And now, to know that love was so much greater with DG. Well, Ambrose hopes he still has a chance.

Ambrose himself, he loves DG. Her mind is brilliant, her dedication to help others even as a child had captured his heart. And now as an adult, seeing the features that made him fall in love with her then, matured and having her heart stopping promise of beauty as a child, bloom. It literally blew his mind. He cannot help but feel the love he has for her. He grins, remembering the fun they used to have in the workshops in Finaqua. He had been so looking forward to bringing her there and just relaxing.

Behind Ambrose, Az is riding, losing herself in the enjoyment of being out in the OZ. She can feel the twitch in between her shoulder blades and know that the mobats have felt her enjoyment. The mobats are still part of her, being creatures, they didn't care if the Witch was alive or not. They had moved back to the tattoo in the center of her shoulder blades that they had resided when she had been growing up. She let them loose when they had won, only to find that they had returned. She herself was the one that had treated them well, not the witch. And they knew that.

Too bad most of the OZ still thought of them as evil. Her mother had been working to save the race, after getting to know the ones that still are with Az. DG had actually been helping with that at the beginning, but had slowly removed herself from it.

Eyes half closed, Raw is feeling each of his companions. He is not a man of many words, none of his race are. But the feelings he gets from his companions are all worried, mixed with varying grades of love for DG. Raw knows who DG's feelings are for, but he will never betray his closest friend like that. The man she cares about is one Raw thinks is deserving of her. The thing is that really both men are loving and will do their best by her and Raw knows this. But it will be the work of the one she truly feels for to convince her he doesn't blame her for the wrongs that have happened because of her compassion as a child. The same compassion that made both men fall in love with her, and to be honest, made Raw love her. He loves her as a sister and that is why her leaving has hurt him.

Az loves her as her sister, her savior. She truly does not blame her, knowing that DG was not the only one who heard the child crying. She had chosen to ignore it. She was the one the Witch had wanted, the one that she had grabbed when DG dropped her hand. If it hadn't been for the darkness inside her, she would not have been the Host, DG would have been grabbed and enslaved.

Jeb loves her as a sister. He knows his father loves her, but so does the woman he loves. Raw knows it has taken some time for Jeb to come to terms with his father being the same age and loving a woman only a few years younger than him. He has done well with it, and finally settled into his feelings for both of them. No matter what, DG is his sister.

Raw looks in front of him at the two men who are hurting and so determined to find the woman they love. He does not know how they will handle her choosing one of them. But they are both aware it can and will happen.

Cain held his hand up and stops them. He said only loud enough for them to hear, "This is where we need to stop."

The group nods and quickly the camp is struck. The three fell into their old patterns, Jeb working alongside his father as he has for the past annual. Az was the one to make their camp secure, magically. When all was said and done, they quickly ate and went to sleep.

The following morning showed Cain still resting against the tree, thinking back along their trip the first time. He had always taken the last shift, and back then, he had made sure DG was close to him. As he gave up and let his emotions be as they are, he had found that sometime in the night, DG would shift closer to him and on the last night they had camped, she had rested her hand on his legs. Luckily they had been in camp with his son, because he freely admits he paid attention to nothing but her that last night. His eyes had memorized everything he could of her. And it had not surprised him to see Glitch doing the same thing from across the fire.

It didn't even bother him that Glitch had stuck to her side the following day, in fact it had relieved his mind. He didn't want her going any where alone while they were planning the assault. He knew she would feel guilty that people were risking their lives to free them from what she had done. But later when she had come to him, he had just stared into her face. And followed her without a word when she went to help Raw.

It had been the closest he had been to admitting his feelings to her. In hindsight, he wishes now that he had, but Glitch had not been there and that would have been fighting dirty.

The rest of them awoke and soon were back on the road. The twin suns were just making themselves known across the land when they halted, shocked.

The Papay fields had been dead for annuals. Most people don't even remember the paradise they had once been; Jeb in fact had never seen them alive. This was the first place that the Witch had destroyed. She did it before even coming to power; she leached the life force from the trees to power herself.

But in front of them is that paradise returned. Not just returned, but better than ever.

Ambrose just said one word and they all understood. "DG."

Cain reverently uttered, "This must have been one of the places she had healed. But when?"

Raw just told them, "Peaceful. DG did it out of love."

Az was shaking her head. When Jeb notices, he asks her, "What's wrong, Az?"

She answers him, "There is so much power in here, it's just incredible. I can't describe it. But she also had locked it away,to stop the mages from ever being able take from them again. The only one who can receive any power from this place is the Papay and DG. And that is only because they allow her."

Cain looks over, "And the Papay?"

Az and Raw smile at each other. "They returned to the innocent creatures of light they were to begin with. But do not be surprised if they defend DG. They respect her."

A group of the Papay emerge in front of them, sniff and then bow to them.

Raw smiles as he answers their unspoken question, "Papay honor the seekers for the Queen of the OZ. they know why we are here. They extend hospitality and any help to find the Savior."

Cain nods his hand close to his gun. He asks, "When did this happen?" If it had been awhile ago, then how did anyone keep it quiet?

The Papay chattered at each other then look over to Raw. He nods, frowning. "Three nights ago."

Cain straightened. The night before he had come home. Then he whips his head to Az and Ambrose, "How much power would this have taken from her and when did you last see her?"

They both pale. "We saw her before that night, during lunch. Not since then. She didn't even come see Ambrose after surgery."

Cain's jaw clenches. "That is why she looked so awful that night. She had just finished healing the fields. And how would that damn spell done to her?"

Jeb answers him, his own jaw hard. "Been worse."

Cain looks away, trying to contain his temper.

Ambrose is staring hard at the ground. Then his eyes narrowed, "If she was that weak, how did she leave?"

Az and Cain both answer, "The Emerald," and both look at each other.

Cain tells them, "It flashed in the room when I was standing there. If you said it was trying to protect her, then it probably removed her from there. But where could it go, to stop her from doing that?"

They all look at each other, trying to think.

Cain has a large suspicion and he can see Ambrose is thinking the same thing.

Shortly he confirms it by saying, "Over the Rainbow."

* * *

><p><strong>Final Count: 5,717 words<strong>

**Please leave a review! **

**Also all Rated M content will be cut out (And there are lemons coming!) and will have a note to go to WordPress to find them. And I post on WordPress first. My group on Facebook gets the notifications first, since I add in pics, links and such. The link to my WordPress is on my profile. When you get there, feel free to browse around. **

**I try to post on Wednesdays. I am doing 10 stories at once. So once we get into a rhythm, I will be posting updates. Until I do, then I will be posting as soon as I can. Right now, I am trying to race ahead of my betas so I can get back to what I do best. Write!**

**Also, if you ask questions, I will answer them. Otherwise, with 10 stories, I have no time to reply to reviews. I think you rather me work on getting new stuff out there. But they do inspire me and get me eager to post and write more. Thanks!**

**Fairfarren~Wendy**


	6. Chapter 5 Belongs to Fairy Tales

**Yep, I told you guys that now that this has a beta I will be updating more on it! Thanks as always to MissRissa81 for her fabulous work!**

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. **

**Pre Edit Count - ****3,384 Words**

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: Love Song Requiem _by Trading Yesterday_._ **

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Az and Cain both answer, "The Emerald," and both look at each other._

_Cain tells them, "It flashed in the room when I was standing there. If you said it was trying to protect her, then it probably removed her from there. But where could it go, to stop her from doing that?"_

_They all look at each other, trying to think._

_Cain has a large suspicion and he can see Ambrose is thinking the same thing._

_Shortly he confirms it by saying, "Over the Rainbow."_

_Now:_

* * *

><p>Cain sits back in his seat, his eyes looking over his companions. The revelation of where DG is had been relief for them, until Az had told them the bad news.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Az breathed out a soft denial, "No."<em>

_Cain looked back at the woman his son loves and asked, "What's wrong, Az?"_

_Az looked up at all of them. "There are only two places in this world that can lead back to where DG is. And one of them may be blocked off."_

_Cain just raised an eyebrow. He is slowly coming to the end of his patience. He really needs to get to his DG. The pain of their separation is getting worse, and his ability to hide it is getting harder to get away with. _

_Ambrose had been silent and then said, "The guilds. That is the only place we can cross."_

_Jeb glanced at him and just blurted, "What? Why?"_

_Cain closed his eyes and answered for them all, "Because our journey is to mirror hers. The Grey Gale came to the OZ in the land of the Guilds. And that is where we will leave to find her."_

* * *

><p>That had been earlier today. They had managed to make their way through the Papay fields and made their way to just outside Milltown. It had just gotten too late and Cain couldn't push the horses anymore tonight, just to make it there.<p>

His mind keeps going over the legends and his sense of unease keeps bothering him. There is more at stake than them just getting DG back. He knows there has to be more. Yes, the OZ will continue to fall apart, getting worse until it's chosen Queen is back. But there were times, in the past, that the chosen Queen couldn't take the throne…right?

But what really solidifies the sense of unease for him is that the Grey Gale herself had sent them on this trip. And her one comment, the journey reflects her own, has already come to up to guide them more than once. And that worries Cain. Nothing in the OZ is that easy. Not that he will find it easy to convince DG to come back with them. To convince her that he loves her. He knows this will not be easy. But the time spent away from her has taught him that he needs to be with her.

He stares at the fire, thinking of what he needs to do. His eyes gleam in the dark, the pale blue catching the firelight as he plans and dreams for his future.

The fire slowly dies down and the companions drift off to sleep each with their own thoughts of what the future is to bring. Only to be awoken with a scream of pure fear.

Jeb is by Az's side before the scream has ended, trying frantically to wake her; his face reflects the worry he has for, the one he is hoping will someday love him back.

Cain and Ambrose jerk up and Cain had his gun, at the ready, in his hand. Both are looking for the source of the scream and who could have caused it.

Raw woke up, and actually shrank away for a second from the pain he is feeling from the princess. Then tells them, "Az had a visitor." In a low voice, as he fights with his secondhand pain coming from Az.

Jeb growls at the thought of someone invading the dreams of his princess and looks down at Az, "Princess, what happened?" His eyes are roving over her face, trying to find if anything had happened to her physically.

Az is gasping. She closes her eyes and tries to center herself, she can feel her magic trying to raise a shield and she can feel the mobats as they move, wanting to confront whatever had frightened their mistress. They move so much that it is becoming painful and she arches in Jeb's arms as she barely holds back a scream from the pain.

Before any of them can react to her, Raw is beside her, pulling her cloak to the side as he pulls down the back of the shirt she is wearing. He is knowing what needs to happen, to help relieve the pain she is feeling.

Jeb curses and tries to stop the viewer, but he gasps as he watches the tattoo on Az's back spasm and then sparkle. Raw jumps back and Az lurches from Jeb's arms to her hands and knees as the mobats explode from her back.

Cain jumps up, but before he can do anything, Raw has his hand on his gun, telling him, "They be protecting her." He is watching as they fly into the air, waiting for them to come back to their mistress.

And sure enough, the flying monkeys take up defensive positions all around Az. They hiss at Jeb as they move cover Az with their wings, trying to protect and comfort her. They make chirping noises to her, as they themselves talk to each other and two take off to scout, coming back to tell them there is nothing around. They stay in the air to better guard her and their brethren.

Jeb is not about to admit defeat. He is a Cain, and Cain's are devoted to the women they love. He moves towards the mobats, and tells them in a voice that will make his father proud when he thinks back to this, "Out of my way."

Az is quietly crying and turns into Jeb's chest when she feels his arms around her. She can feel the strength that he has and is more than willing to use or give for her to use. He quietly soothes her, his eyes meeting the others from across the backs of the mobats surrounding her.

When she calms down, she hears Ambrose quietly ask her, "What happened, Az?" He, as well as the rest of them are concerned for her, and need some answers.

She sags in Jeb's arms, relief coursing through her body that they are not condemning her. Then Cain's voice came to her, "That is why Deeg was working to find out more about them. Because they remained with you, even after I saw you release them." He had remembered the time DG had spent in the libraries trying to find any information she could about them.

Az nods, "They wanted to stay with me. Mother and DG both agreed that it would save me from any outcry from the public if they were in the original tattoo on my back. They all agreed and have remained there." She remember that discussion as the mobats have been used by the wicked witch of the west as far back as any could find records. It's not the mobats fault…

One mystery solved, the Tin Man then asks Ambrose's question again, "What happened?" He is sitting in front of her, ignoring the mobats as only a Cain could.

Az shudders and the mobats grew agitated. Jeb rubs his hands on her arms, supporting her. She looks up into the blue crystal eyes of the elder Cain. "I received a warning to stop what we are doing, and what happened to the last witch who had disregarded it." She stares into Cain's eyes as she said, "It is another Witch, Cain."

Ambrose frowns. "The only Witches are the original four." He had studied this in detail, wanting to know everything there is to know about DG.

Az nods. "Deeg and I took care of one for good." She shudders, remembering the two of them facing down the witch.

Jeb comments, "Ozma gave her power to the Grey Gale, her friend and passed on." He too had brushed up on as much history as he could before they left.

Cain frowns. "We were taught that the Grey Gale defeated two Witches." He is pleading with his eyes for them not to say what he is thinking…

Ambrose is staring at Az, realizing what she knew. "But she didn't really. One was the Wicked Witch of the West, and that is who took over Az. So we know she was not really defeated. The other was the Wicked Witch of the East, who was defeated by the Gale's house falling on her." His voice trails off as he realizes who they adversary may be.

Cain sucked in his breath. Knowing what he does now, no simple house falling on a Witch would truly destroy her. So what was done with her? West was sealed in a cave, so where had the Wicked Witch of the East been and is she out now?

Az answers the last of it, "And no one knows what happened to the Good Witch of the North. The North Isle is rumored to be her domain, the Gales only hold it for her return." Though it had been a home of hers, she remembers her mother's teachings that the North is there for them to take care of for the return of Glenda.

Jeb looks down at her and states, "And you saw that Glenda had disregarded the last warning." There is nothing else he can think of that the witch could use to scare Az this badly.

Az nods. Her eyes fill as she realized that they are not only there for DG. They are to rescue one of the four cardinal witches that help form the OZ. If she can be brought low, how could they ever hope to succeed?

Cain's eyes grow hard as he states, "'She follows in my path', not that we follow her path. Dorothy really only meant DG. That is why we are being told to get her, the OZ needs DG to defeat another Witch. One who had been rumored to be more powerful than her sister." His voice is growling out the last as he realizes exactly what the OZ needs of his beloved and he is quite frankly, upset.

Ambrose jerks and his eyes look dark as he says what is on the mind of all of the Companions, "How much more does she need to do? Has she not done enough?" DG is in pain and the OZ wants her to come back and battle the strongest witch, the one that Ozma herself could not get rid of?

And there is a flash of emerald light as Dorothy stands in front of them, her Toto in her arms. "She really has. This was never to be, but the Witch of the West had planned that in case what she had considered to the impossible did in fact happen, her sister would be revived. In fact, she had partially revived her and had her by her side at all times." She looks so sad in front of them, not liking that her descendant would be the one who would be forced to suffer because the bonds they had put on the witches were overcome so easily.

Az murmurs, "Visor." The only person that the witch had trusted with everything. There are portions even hidden from her that Visor knows.

Dorothy nods. "Not even I knew that she was back completely. But the OZ screamed out in protest when she invaded your dreams, she made a mistake. One that allows me to help more." Dorothy can't help but smirk as she is getting to help her descendants more because the Witch made a mistake…

Cain jumps up and towers over the namesake of the woman he loves. "Help more? What is this, some sort of game?" He is pissed. This is just not what he wants DG to think is the reason he has gone after her. No he is going to bring her back because she is his everything. But how could she not doubt with all this going on?

Dorothy looks up at him and softly tells him, "Tin Man, know that I love my great granddaughter much. She is the most like me, knowing as I do my own world and this world, finding the same awe and wonder for the OZ that has been gone for so long in the general population. Look what she did for the Papays. That type of love is to be treasured and kept safe. Not used like the Witch of the East wishes to do."

Cain stares down at her. His eyes are waiting of more. He is not going to his DG with news of doom and gloom without some of hope.

Dorothy sighs, "I cannot tell you too much, or it will loosen the few bounds on the Witch. She is looking for DG also. But, by mine and the OZ's magic, she cannot do anything at this time against her. Her mistake is allowing me to help at all, but even then, I know you will not be happy." Her eyes reflect the sorrow she is feeling, and the wish that he would take the moment to understand her position in this.

Ambrose chuckles, "Cain is never happy when DG is in danger." The smile on his face tells it all. He is slowly becoming accustomed to Cain's love for DG. He loves her so much, but he can see that Cain's love for her is much more than his own. However that doesn't mean he will give his years of loving her for nothing. He is going down to the wire for the love of DG. She will choose.

Dorothy stares across at him and then looks back in the face of the Tin Man. "You both worry, and I am sad to say she will choose one of you. But the other will find the same love waiting for him. This is no more than what you both deserve. However, unless you both love her and make her choose, the alternative is that the OZ will no longer exist." Her eyes look down and then back up to meet both of theirs, "I am sorry. No one deserves the heartbreak that will come upon her decision. Just remember, that someday the love you need, will be there." She hates to tell them this, but they need to understand there must be a decision made.

Cain and Ambrose look at each other and nod. They are aware of what may happen, and have decided long ago that not only is she worth it, but that they will abide by her decision.

Dorothy squares her shoulders. She looks around at all of them and tells them, "DG is the first step. After her return, you will need to find the original seekers and free the first person to help me in this world. Only then will you be able to face the last sister." She then smiles, her Light showing through, "And please, do better than I, for no house will stop her this time." The teasing tone in her voice makes them all smile.

Jeb can't help himself, "No worries, Grey Gale, I don't think my father will allow anything less than completing the job for Deeg to be safe." He is grinning, enjoying the fact that the Grey Gale actually has a sense of humor.

Dorothy laughs. "Oh, you are well suited for your Life Mate." Her eyes look over them all and tells them, "I hate to dangle rewards, but you all deserve to know that you are all to be Life Mated. Nothing but that type of love will serve the OZ." With that she glances at them all once more and fades away.

Cain just stares at her spot. He repeats, "Life Mates. There has not been a Life Mate since Ozma's time." They are rumors… only tales of Life Mates.

Ambrose nods, "To have that sort of bond, a need for that type of bond, is not a good sign. And to find out that all of us will have it? Oh my." He is looking as shocked as Cain is. Life Mates are so rare. They are sacred in fact…

Raw, out of all of them, is relieved. DG's choice will be hard, but there is still love for the one not chosen. He will need to make sure that she is aware of that at one point. It will ease her guilt that she is sure to have. But as the thought crosses his mind, he makes the connection, "Life Mate bond will break whisper spell." The awe for the solution being so neat, so tidy is obvious in his voice.

Cain and Ambrose both straighten. Cain slowly smiles, "Now that, Furball, is the best news I have heard. Are you sure?"

Raw nods.

The entire group relaxes. The fact that the whisper spell can be broken is good news.

Cain then shakes his head. "Nothing is easy for her is it?"

Ambrose grins, "No, but then do you think she really would want easy?"

The two grin at each other, both knowing the answer. Not the DG that they had traveled with for the first couple of days, before Tutor had interrupted the happy group. None of them will forget that happy time.

Jeb hugs Az closer, leaning his head down to hers, "Can you either have your friends return home, or if they do not wish to return, will they at least allow us to move?" Not that he minds having her here in his arms, where he has dreamed of her being, but he is not sure if she returns his affections and doesn't want to make her at all uncomfortable.

Az looks up and smiles. She had caught her Ancestor's comment and had put one and one together. And she now realizes that he is what she needs. But she will wait until he realizes that same thing and then they will talk. Calling her friends with her magic, all but one descends back into her tattoo. She gazes on the last one. "Cain?"

Cain had started to break down the camp, knowing that they need to hurry to DG. His head had come up and looks across to the Princess. "Yes?"

Looking at him, "Lars wishes to help. He asks if he can scout ahead for us."

Cain quickly looks over at the mobat staring into Az's eyes and then back at her. He remembers that DG was trying to help and that makes his decision. "Sure." He always will trust DG no matter if she chooses him or not. Her gut feelings have been more right than anything else he has seen in the world.

Az glances at him and sees that he is not hiding anything, he sincerely has no problem with this. She smiles and nods to the mobat. He squawks and after reaching a paw to her face and rubbing it affectionately, takes off.

Jeb lets go of his breath. "Well, that will be something to get used to." He asks the woman in his arms, "You okay?" His eyes making sure she is as he waits for her answer.

She nods and he helps her up. They all break down their camp, knowing that Cain's need to be with DG is his warning senses serving him.

Once they are back on the road, they make their way into Milltown. They need to know if DG's nurture units are here, or if they are taking care of her back in her world. It will give them some direction and idea what all could be waiting for them back in her world.

When they ride up to the town, they notice that there is a shimmering bubble overlaying the entire town. Everyone looks first at each other, then look at Az.

Az is grinning, feeling DG's mischievousness running through the shield. She feels the other's stares on her and tells them, "We can enter. But be prepared. This must have been done much earlier." Then she laughs. Her sister's mischievousness is something she has missed since she had met the older DG. She is thrilled that she hasn't changed and it had been the whisper spell wearing on her.

Cain looks at her, then the bubble in front of him. He sighs, but if you look closely at his face, you can see his amusement. "Well, I guess this is why we haven't heard from the Mayor." And with that, he dismounts Silver, and holding the reins firmly, walks through the bubble.

The bubble recognizes him, and he is caught for a moment as he hears his DG in his head.

_Cain_.

He gasps softly, hope spreading through him. The feelings, of pure hope he finds in that one word gives him some much needed encouragement. Determination is also present, which has always been there, as well as his love for her. He will give his everything for her. But hope, and encouragement that she will return his feelings? He has not dared to have that.

Cain then feels the laughter in the bubble and feels it as it passes over him. _Enter, my Tin Man, you and anyone you feel is safe to be here, are allowed._ Then the voice in his head changes for a second and he hears a faint whisper of the voice she had left for him, _Hurry, Cain._ _Find me._

The pain of her voice echoes in him. Cain closes his eyes and tells her, _I am coming, DG. I will **always** come for you._

He feels a whisper of a hug and then is released. He makes it through the bubble, with none of Companions aware of what had transpired. He feels slightly guilty for it, having a connection that Ambrose may not have, but the memory of the pain in her voice is enough to steel him.

The rest of the group follows Cain through the bubble. He watches their faces, but sees nothing that makes him think that there was a message in the bubble for them. Looking away from them, Cain tries to tell himself not to read too much into it. Who knows how long that message had been waiting?

Soon the group is making their way through the streets and they can see that Milltown is quickly healing. Instead of the damaged automatons that had been here before, most of them have been repaired. The buildings are cleaned up and everything looks as though it is well on the way to returning to normal.

Oddly, the group is feeling hopeful that they had not run into DG's nurture units. When they ask around, they found the Mayor is undergoing repairs and that no one has seen DG's nurture units.

Carol, one of the ladies they have asked questions of tells them of the bubble. "It was about eight months ago it appeared. The Mayor came out and told us it was a thank you from the one we had helped. That she is protecting us from anyone attempting to erase us again."

Ambrose thinks and then asks, "Did anything odd happen the last couple of days?" He has learned to ask direct questions of them. It works better. Some of them can handle higher thought processes, but it is easier to think them all simpler. They never minded.

Carol thinks, and tells them, "The whole town lit with a green glow." She smiles. It must be programmed when she gives an answer she smiles. Every time it has happened when she answers. It was getting mildly creepy.

Jeb has constantly moved with Az, making sure she is within his reach the entire time. Raw and Ambrose had grinned to each other, remembering how his father had been, even before he had admitted his feelings for DG, he had been, if anything, even more protective of her.

Jeb quickly asks, "Have you seen Emily or Hank since then?" His eyes tracking Az as she looks around.

You could see the gears whirring in her eyes, then the audible click as they came to a conclusion, "No." And she smiles again.

Cain shifts on his feet. They have the answer they are looking for. "That's it then. They are with her. We need to get moving, folks." He is feeling more anxious after DG's communication with him. He has an ominous feeling that they are running out of time.

Ambrose looks over at Cain, and asks, "Is there something wrong?" the way he is acting is getting to Ambrose, it feels as though there is something going to happen. And not in the way that makes you think it will be a good thing.

Cain looks at the man who loves DG just as much as he does, and cannot hold it in. "DG left a message in the bubble for me. She asks that we hurry." He hates to tell him this, but Ambrose will also know why he is pushing them.

Ambrose feels something die inside him. But before all hope dies, Cain tells him, "Ambrose. Why would she think you would come here? The message was her teasing me, telling me that any with me that I thought was trustworthy was allowed in the town. She means for Milltown to be protected from everyone. Why would you need to enter it? Remember, she sent me away." The pain he is feeling from the fact that DG did send him away is evident in his voice.

Az is watching Cain try to give his competition hope. But she can see that there is more than what he is saying. And, because of Ambrose's reaction, he is keeping it to himself. She sighs to herself. She really has held out hope, but she has known, for a while, in her heart of hearts that DG has already chosen…

Keeping it to herself, they quickly gather additional supplies and continue on the trail. They had gone out of their way to be here, but all had agreed that they needed to find out about DG's roboparents. Plus Cain wanted to make sure they hit it since it was a big part of when they came this way in the first place.

That night when all had gone to sleep, Az moves beside Cain. They sit staring at the fire and soon hear Ambrose's nightly rambling.

Cain chuckles. "He was the same way the first time. Thank goodness this time he doesn't talk as much while awake." He shakes his head at the rambling as he starts talking technical stuff.

Az laughs lightly. She can just imagine how bad Ambrose had been as Glitch. But then she remembers why she is sitting beside the elder Cain. "Cain, what else did DG tell you?"

Cain doesn't even glance at her. He stares into the flames, his jaw tightens as his eyes turn a brilliant blue, but he doesn't say anything.

Az puts her hand on his arm, and softly tells him, "She was more broken after you left. Even Glitch noticed for brief moments, and for a few of those times, he told her that you would be back. Cain, I know you are trying to save Ambrose's feelings, but wouldn't it help to have someone helping?"

Cain closes his eyes briefly, then sighs. "She needs me. She told me to hurry and there was such pain in her voice." His head drops as he admits it.

Az straightens, then she tells him, "You have it bad, don't you. I thought Ambrose was bad, but while he was bad when he thought she was dead, I would hate to see you." Her eyes are searching his, as she realizes just how in love, the man in front of her is, with her sister.

Cain clenches his jaw, and finally tells her, "I won't survive it. But as long as she is happy, if she wants Ambrose, I will be fine." He is steadily staring at the fire, not able to face her.

Az looks away, for the first time fully aware of the love the man has for her sister. She chuckles to herself. When Cain glances at her out of the corner of his eye, she tells him, "If she chooses you, I think you two will be the stuff of legends."

He shakes his head. "I think you be thinking of one of your fairy tales Princess, maybe that one of that Oyster and her King." Then his face softens. "She belongs to and deserves those fairy tales Not a man who is broken." His voice trails off at the end.

Az just stares at the man beside her and realizes it won't just be him healing DG, but she healing him. She just informs him, "You know, DG told me that there is a fairy tale in that other world, of the Grey Gale's journey. Who knows what other fairy tales are real, Cain. Or who knows which ones are beginning?" Her voice is soft, as she truly is beginning to believe that in front of her might very well be half of a legendary couple, one that she is sure will drive their own legends.

With that Az moves to her bedroll, noting with a smile that Jeb had placed his on the other side and made sure she will be close enough to the fire to stay warm tonight. She settles quickly down and looks into the fire, her eyes raise up and she can see Cain's as he sits there thinking. She hopes he listens to her, then settles down thinking of the same tale that Cain had brought up, wishing that it is true as she fell asleep, there was no one more deserving of life never ending as the promised King and Queen of Knights.

* * *

><p><strong>Final count: 5,067 words.<strong>

**Please leave a review. It helps motivate us! And just remember, this is one of 10 stories that I am working on. Updating once a week is exceedingly good!**

**Fairfarren~Wendy.**


	7. Chapter 6 Would You Know My Name?

**Told you guys that this is now going to get updated more often! Meet you at the bottom!**

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. I am just driven to share with you this story that has popped in my head…**

**Word count before editing: 2,210 **

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: Tears in Heaven _by Eric Clapton_._ **

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Az looks away, for the first time fully aware of the love the man has for her sister. She chuckles to herself. When Cain glances at her out of the corner of his eye, she tells him, "If she chooses you, I think you two will be the stuff of legends."_

_He shakes his head. "I think you be thinking of one of your fairy tales Princess, maybe that one of that Oyster and her King." Then his face softens. "She belongs to and deserves those fairy tales Not a man who is broken." His voice trails off at the end._

_Az just stares at the man beside her and realizes it won't just be him healing DG, but she healing him. She just informs him, "You know, DG told me that there is a fairy tale in that other world, of the Grey Gale's journey. Who knows what other fairy tales are real, Cain. Or who knows which ones are beginning?" Her voice is soft, as she truly is beginning to believe that in front of her might very well be half of a legendary couple, one that she is sure will drive their own legends._

_With that Az moves to her bedroll, noting with a smile that Jeb had placed his on the other side and made sure she will be close enough to the fire to stay warm tonight. She settles quickly down and looks into the fire, her eyes raise up and she can see Cain's as he sits there thinking. She hopes he listens to her, then settles down thinking of the same tale that Cain had brought up, wishing that it is true as she fell asleep, there was no one more deserving of life never ending as the promised King and Queen of Knights._

_Now:_

* * *

><p>The following morning had them on their way to Cain's homestead. That morning when Cain had announced that was their next destination, his eyes were hard. Jeb had jerked his head towards his father in shock.<p>

Noticing this, Cain grinds out, "We are to follow the original path of DG's journey. That was where she found me." Then he quickly mounts Silver and rides back on the trail. His head held high, he doesn't look back to them

Ambrose stares out after him. "This is going to be hard."

Jeb is staring after his father and jerks his head to Raw as he hears him say, "Not just Cain. Jeb will have hard time." He can see Raw staring at him, sympathy in his eyes.

Closing his eyes, he acknowledges this, then states, "No harder than it has to be for him. He watched what he thought was the massacre of his family, continuously, for eight long annuals. All the while locked inside one of those suits, staring out at the site of the same massacre."

Ambrose glances to make sure the Tin Man is far enough away. "I think that was when he felt something for DG. He only looked at her a couple of times, most of the time was him staring away from her." He will never forget that second that DG freed Cain and the look on his face when he fell at her feet. If he had been forced to say a moment that Cain felt something for her, it was then. He spent more time fighting it afterwards.

Az sighs. She nods to Lars and he takes off, seeing where Cain is. He comes back and circles. "C'mon. We need to get this done with. The faster we get to DG the better we all will feel. Plus it sounds like this is only the first part of the journey." With that she nudges Alric to a walk and follows Lars.

The rest of the Companions are quick to follow. None of them are talking, all thinking about the revelations they had received from the Grey Gale last night.

Ambrose is remembering when they had first seen Cain. The look he had on his face as he stared at DG from inside the Suit, then as he fell upon his knees at the first unimpaired sight of her, as though she was his angel, that everything that bound him to life was her. He frowns as the phrase sounds familiar, but he is to busy with his thoughts to trace it down.

But at the same time, he remembers his first sight of her. The pure rage he felt when he saw her as she struggled against the Guild. He had been willing to kill for her if he had been able to. He still has no idea why they put the two of them together.

Ambrose closes his eyes as he remembers the pure electric shock he had received when she looked him in the face completely inside their 'cell'. As Glitch, he had pushed it aside and tried to play it down. He chuckles to himself, remembering how he had called her doll and thought he was so clever to get her to loosen the rope that made him stay up there. Then her trying politely to let him know that his zipper was open, Glitch had been mortified.

Nothing matched his heart screaming when she left him. He frantically followed after her, and how after that second he never wanted to leave her side. And he had done much that Glitch was not happy with in order to keep by her side.

Now Ambrose knows a lot of that was the Suitor Bond reasserting itself, it was how he had managed to find her a couple of times when she had gone missing from his sight. Then his eyes narrow in thought. Cain had known where she was at all times without the bond.

Interrupting Ambrose's thoughts, Jeb finally rides up closer to Az and Ambrose. He can feel Raw closing in, but he asks them both, "Do any of you remember the old legends clearly?"

Az sighs. "Actually, DG is the one who would know them better than any of us."

This startles Jeb and Ambrose. It is the former who asks, "Why is that?"

Before any of them can answer, they came upon the Cain's former homestead. And what waited for them, would break anyone's heart. Cain is just standing there, his hand on his suit, his shoulders slumped. He is the very picture of a man broken.

Jeb's breath catches, looking at the home that was the last place his family had been whole. Az turns to him, and lays a hand on him.

Ambrose, however, looks at the elder Cain, and his thoughts from earlier come back. A suspicion is coming to mind, but he cannot let the man who has become a brother to him suffer. He dismounts his bay horse and moves to Cain's side.

Cain just tells him, "I don't deserve to be a Suitor for DG." He is looking so lost as he looked at what still haunts his nightmares, of being imprisoned and watching what he had thought to be his worst nightmare coming true, over and over.

Ambrose stands with him, staring at the tree that Cain had told him was a sapling when he was put into the suit. He gather's his thoughts and asks, "You never would look at her after you fell at her feet. If it was where you had to, it was a brief glance or like you were trying to prove anything. But at the end, you never looked at her. I thought you were not going to help us, and was trying to figure out a way to get through the Papay fields. Even back then, I was not sure I could keep her safe. And that was and still is an important part of me."

He sighed. "You did and still try to fight it, don't you." He says it softly, but it is painful for him to admit it.

Cain jerks slightly, and admits to him, "I gave in to loving her a long time ago. You were there when I did."

Ambrose finally turns to him. "But you are fighting a stronger feeling for her. Cain, you knew where she was at all times _before _the suitor bond was even established."

Cain closes his eyes and answers Ambrose, "And you have no idea if you would be feeling the same way since you have had the Bond since she was a child. Do not base anything on it, Ambrose. You love DG. You will give her your life without thinking of it. And it doesn't matter what I or you feel for her, to be honest. It is up to her."

Ambrose just stares at him. "You don't think you deserve her." The revelation is surprising for him. For the former Tin Man to admit any shortcoming is amazing and unheard of.

Cain just looks around and tells him, his voice harsh, "I don't seem to do well with the women I love. I begged and pleaded with Zero not to hurt them, and had to watch it for eight annuals. The entire time believing that because I made the choice to help the Resistance, they are dead." His eyes close, "The worst part, Ambrose, was watching Adora's tears as they fell."

Ambrose tries to grapple with the idea that the child in the recording they came across was his and DG's; how he would cope were he in Cain's position. He couldn't have. "Cain." When that receives no attention, he tries again. "Wyatt, you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. There is no way I could have survived. I would have killed myself or gone catatonic."

Jeb, Az and Raw had come up, but they remain quiet. Jeb remembers that day, it is sadly one of the clearest in his head. And he knew he is the same as Ambrose that he couldn't have survived. In fact he almost didn't survive his week in his, and he didn't have to watch what he thought was the murder of his family in front of him.

Cain's voice came as a whisper and they barely heard it. If the wind had been blowing the other way, there would have been no way they had heard it. "If it had been DG, I would have." He turns and starts to walk away.

Raw's voice rings out, "There be no tears in heaven."

Those six little words stop the Tin Man. He stands there for a minute and then nods. He walks to the dock and stares out across the water.

Jeb starts to follow him, but Ambrose grabs his arm. "Leave him be. While time does heal, he needs to face this before we find DG."

Looking up at Ambrose's face, Jeb sees Ambrose resigning himself. He is not sure what is going on with the Adviser, but he looks back at his father. He pulls his arm away from Ambrose and continues on.

Raw moves up to Ambrose's side. "Cain need son." Then he looks at Ambrose, "Cain be right, don't give up. No one knows what DG will choose."

Az comes up on Ambrose's other side, "DG has not had much in her life that she can decide upon. Don't take away another choice from her."

Ambrose closes his eyes as he nods, silently agreeing with them.

Cain is staring across the pond and feels his son come up to his side.

Jeb stops beside his father. "What is so hard, right now, father?"

Sighing, Cain looks down at his son. "Because when I first saw DG through the view plate of the suit, I thought I saw an angel. Then to have her open it, I fell to my knees with the intense feelings I felt for this woman in front of me. I denied them, since for me, I just finished watching the 93,500th time you guys were taken from me and it all seemed like it happened today."

Jeb stands there, thinking. "But it wasn't. Even though you are frozen in the suit, you still are aware of time passing. Dad, there is no one blaming you for your feelings for DG. Mom would not have blamed you, she had found someone else before whatever disease it was that killed her."

Cain turns quickly and stares at his son as he grabs his arms. "What did you say?"

Jeb frowns at him, surprised by his reaction, "Mom passed away because of some illness. We couldn't find anyone to heal her, but she died peacefully. It was after she passed and when we had buried her, that Zero found us and stuck me in that suit. Eleazer was taken away by Zero. Later we found that he had been tortured and killed. I wanted to kill Zero for what he had done to you, the pain she went through and the death of the second father I knew." His voice grows softer as he is watches his father, puzzled by his reaction to this.

Searching his eyes, Cain asks, "But her gravestone said Adora Cain."

Jeb nods, still confused. "She never married again. Dad, why are you asking this?"

Releasing his son, his eyes showing his shock. "I thought Zero had killed her, in fact I dreamed of it and Zero told he had."

Jeb's eyes widen as he frantically thought. Then his voice shakes as he tells his father, "No. He never laid another hand on her for the rest of her life. I am so sorry. I thought you knew." His voice shows his emotion that he felt badly that his father had been suffering all this time, and he never knew. Or he would have corrected him much sooner allowing him to suffer less.

Cain looks up at the sky, thinking. Finally he shakes his head to himself, making a decision and then turns abruptly to his son. He reaches into his vest and hands Jeb an object. He tells him, "It's yours, I meant to give it to you for the last annual. Even if DG chooses me, I won't do that to her." And he walks off back towards the rest of the group.

Jeb opens the object to find it is Cain's wedding ring. _I meant to give it to you for the last annual._ Jeb's head snapped up to stare at his father's retreating back. And he sees his left hand, there is not even a spot that is lighter than the rest.

Cain moves back to the rest of them and stops by Ambrose. He clasps him on the shoulder and just says, "Her choice?"

Ambrose looks him into his eyes, seeing some of the self-hatred he had seen earlier, gone. He nods, "Her choice."

With that they all left the Cain house.

* * *

><p><strong>Final count: 2,512 words<strong>

**Please leave me a review! Yep, we got this ready and going for Wednesdays to be added to the queue! There will be a lemon later that will not be added to here, per Fanfiction's rules. But no worries! It will be published as is on WordPress! :) The link is on my profile!**

**Fairfarren~Wendy.**


	8. Chapter 7 Lost and Insecure

**Thanks for being patient! I am extremely grateful to my Beta, MissRissa81! She keeps me motivated on this!**

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. **

**Pre Edit Count - 4,665 Words**

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: You Found Me _by The Fray_._ **

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Cain looks up at the sky, thinking. Finally he shakes his head to himself, making a decision and then turns abruptly to his son. He reaches into his vest and hands Jeb an object. He tells him, "It's yours, I meant to give it to you for the last annual. Even if DG chooses me, I won't do that to her." And he walks off back towards the rest of the group._

_Jeb opens the object to find it is Cain's wedding ring. **I** **meant to give it to you for the last annual**. Jeb's head snaps up to stare at his father's retreating back. And he sees his left hand, there is not even a spot that is lighter than the rest. _

_Cain moves back to the rest of them and stops by Ambrose. He clasps him on the shoulder and just says, "Her choice?"_

_Ambrose looks him into his eyes, seeing some of the self-hatred he had seen earlier, gone. He nods, "Her choice."_

_With that they all left the Cain house._

_Now:_

* * *

><p>The group is silent for the ride into the Guilds. Ambrose can't help himself and comments, "Wow, I guess it doesn't take as long to get here when you are not traveling in a big circle."<p>

Cain chuckles. "I should have known DG was not joking about that." He had a huge laugh one of the nights in the camps before Toto came to their group when DG had been arguing with Glitch and how he can't lead them. His sense of direction had lost them almost a whole day with walking in circles.

Ambrose wryly chuckles. "Unfortunately, she was not. But Glitch still was better than Airofday." His face scrunches as he remembers the directions from her.

Jeb chuckles. He finally had to ask, "So I take it you kept walking in a circle?"

Ambrose laughs. "Glitch was glitching exceptionally well that day. He actually led DG in a huge circle. Which she pointed out to me and I argued. She then set me straight pointing out that the rock I had just tripped over, was the same one I did the first time." His humor is evident as he remembers that day fondly.

Cain can't help the humor in his voice. "It really is a miracle that you found me at all. Of course, now that I think on it," He turned in his saddle to stare at Ambrose. "Can you inform me why you let her run at a bunch of Longcoats with nothing more than a stick?" His eyebrow raises at the end as he remembers that little detail from the day he had met his angel.

Az can't help herself, "A STICK? How many were there?" She turns in her saddle to look at him.

Ambrose sheepishly answers, "A lot. I tried to tell her it was not our fight…"

Cain just stares at him and then sighs. "And knowing DG, she just ignored you." He knows as well as the rest of them how DG takes being told that.

Ambrose's mouth raises in a grin, "That was actually the moment that she grabbed the stick."

Jeb is laughing. "DG, little DG, ran into a bunch of Longcoats with nothing more than a stick?" He can't help it. The thought is just too funny.

Cain looks over at his son and sighs, his face still smiling. "Ain't the last time she grabbed a stick to attack."

Az is still shocked. "How did she ever live to even meet me?"

Cain straightens, "Because she is DG. Because she believes in people and will defend complete strangers. This in turn made us stop looking the other way, and start working to make a difference." He muses on it, remembering how much she had changed his mind, not by arguing with him, by quietly doing what she thought was right.

Raw just states, "DG care so much, makes other care."

The others nod, each remembering the extent of her caring and how it has changed their lives.

Before long, Cain raises his hand, both his and Jeb's right hands close to their guns. "We are only seeking to find the end of the Old Road."

A couple of the Guild members drop in and one of them demands, "Why you looking for that? Are you spies?" He jabs his spear at them.

Ambrose can't help himself, "No, you little twerps. Just tell us where it is, we need to find someone." He really hates the ankle biters.

Blue Head looks at them. "Only those that have hunted us in the past have looked for that."

Cain looks up and thinks. He finally informs them, "The Grey Gale told us to go to the beginning of her journey. Once there, we need to cross over."

Yellow Head jabs a spear towards Jeb. "Stories!" He shows his teeth at the younger Cain.

Blue Head is thinking however. He drops to the ground from the stump he had been standing on and walks over to Cain. "What was the beginning of the journey?"

Cain frowns. It has been too long since he had heard the legend. But then it dawns on him. "The Yellow Brick Road." He remembers DG joking about it at one point.

Blue Head nods. "When you return, to go any farther, you need to name the Guild that introduced itself to the Grey Gale first."

Jeb asks, "Why are you helping us?"

Blue Head tells them, "It is the last thing that She told us. That there will come seekers, and to ask two questions. The Tin Man here answered the first, so by Her instructions, I told him what the next will be. Now that it has been told, we will never utter the words again." He sounds proud that he is the one that is doing this duty. One that none of his line thought would ever be done.

Ambrose can't help himself. "Great. Now if we forget, the words are lost."

Cain frowns and quite bluntly tells him, "Ambrose. Enough. Whatever is wrong, we will talk about it once we cross over. I have a bad feeling and we need to move quickly." He found himself feeling jittery. The last few times he felt this way his DG had been in trouble.

Ambrose just looks at him and nods. He crosses his arms as he waits for them to move. He can't really tell them what is wrong, just he has a feeling that everything is about to change. And he does truly love DG.

The group moves through the trees, and they eventually made their way into an area that looks like something had been destroyed.

Cain looks around and asks, "What happened?"

Blue Head sighs. "The Witch came back and destroyed the house that had once held her sister imprisoned. She also destroyed the Guild that lived here and their houses. All the remaining Guilds watch this area. This is also where the last slipper came across." He nods to the remains of a house that is not as overgrown as the rest.

Jeb moves closer to Az. Blue Head had noticed, and told him bluntly, "We know who she was."

Cain picks up on their word use. "Was?"

Blue Head looks straight at Az. "We know what happened. We have also heard how your sister saved you, destroying the Witch of the West for good. And while She didn't tell us, we have our own prophecies that tell us you may bring back the one who we cared for. Everything leading to that prophecy is coming true, so we trust it." He nods again.

Cain nods as he looks back at Az. He never calls her Princess, and she is never upset with it, knowing why. "Az, what do you need?"

Az thinks and tells everyone, "Anyone not wanting to slip over to the other side, needs to remove themselves. Cain, the horses can't come. I am not sure how we will land and I do not want to risk them getting hurt." She watches him, knowing he is as attached to his horse as she is to hers. And she actually knows why.

Blue Head motions his men forward. "When you come back, we will have them ready for you. Good luck, Tin Man."

Cain rests his hand on Silver's neck. The horse reaches back and snuffles his head. Cain nods and quickly removes his pack from the back. He looks over at Blue Head, "Be careful with the saddle. It is specially made." It is made for either one rider or it can be adjusted to make it useful for two. Cain had it made while he was gone, hoping that he would have the chance to use it one day. When they returned, Ambrose or he will need it.

Blue Head looks into his eyes and nods. The rest of the Companions had retrieved their things, Az being the other sentimental one with Alric.

Lars flies down to Az and looks her in the eyes. She nods and it takes off. She turns to Cain, "He will keep an eye out for us. He mentioned that he would not be welcomed there anyways."

Cain nods, anxious to get over there to his DG. He will feel better when he can protect her.

The group gathers around Az and she waits. When she is sure that the Guild members have had enough time to move out of the way with the horses, she calls a travel storm. None of them can help the jerking as electricity shoots through them and then they are all falling as the storm descends upon them.

The trip to the other side is smooth, and they drop into a field. Az quickly turns and dissipates the storm behind her. Then she promptly drops from exhaustion, Jeb catching her. He looks at her worried, but she tells him, "Just need a second, Jeb."

Cain staggers, only he and Jeb had kept to their feet. He quickly looks around, noticing a farm house not far. His eyes widen as he recognizes DG's childhood home from the pictures she had drawn at night.

He looks back at Jeb after making sure everyone is ok. "Jeb?"

Jeb quickly picks up the Princess, nodding to his dad.

Cain turns and moves toward the farmhouse. He passes by some windmills and notes that they remind him more of the architecture of Finaqua than anywhere else. Before he reaches the actual house, he notes the shimmer of another bubble around it.

They all halt, staring at it. From afar, it had not looked like the house has been inhabited, now, if they had not encountered one of them before, they wouldn't have realized what is in front of them. Az is standing by herself, however Jeb is not taking a chance and has his arm around her.

Cain only hesitates briefly. Then he moves confidentially through the bubble, not surprised when he hears his name, only moves faster as he hears the fear, _Cain!_

He hits the porch running and without pause, runs through the door and up the stairs. He can _feel_ DG and the pain she is in even better now. He runs through the door and up the stairs. He slides to a stop, his eyes going to the bed.

His heart stops for a second not seeing her there, then his eyes scan the room and with a strangled cry, "DG!" He moves to her side on the floor.

He picks her up in his arms and her eyes flitter open, "Cain?"

He smiles, "Hello Sweetheart. Why are you on the floor?"

DG manages a slight smile, "Reminded me of our adventures." She moans as she tries to move. "Great, now I seem to be matching songs."

Cain carefully picks her up, moving her to her bed. Before he can figure out how he is going to move the blankets, Ambrose is pulling them back. Cain nods his appreciation and gently places her on the bed.

DG opens her eyes again, pain evident in them. "Cain. You came for me." Then her eyes move. A smile shows on her face, "And you brought Glitch."

Cain and Ambrose smile. Ambrose tells her, "We brought more than us, Az, Jeb and Raw are all here, Doll."

DG's smile gets bigger. Then it falls. "Why?"

Cain's eyes harden as he realizes the spell is still working and that is what is causing this question. His eyes meet Ambrose and he sees the same thing in his brother's eyes. But Cain's voice is nothing but gentle as he tells her, "Now, you don't think you can just disappear the night I come back and I wouldn't come for you?"

DG manages to smile, then she jerks in pain. Luckily, Az, with Raw and Jeb right behind her, run into the room. Without a second, Az runs over and hugs DG. "Deeg! Oh great Ozma, have you had us worried, little sister!" Then she felt her jerk in her arms and she pulls back. "Oh, Deeg." Her voice soft.

Looking at her sister, you can see the puzzlement in DG's eyes on why they are here.

Raw moves Ambrose to the side and reaches out to DG. He closes his eyes as he lay his hands on her. His eyes fly open and he looks to Az. "Need help, Az. DG drained too far."

Cain's eyes are anxious as he watches them. Here he is, and yet DG is still in danger, this time from herself.

Az nods, Jeb coming up behind her to support her if needed. She grabs DG's hand and Raw put his hand on DG.

Not sure if it is a trick or not, he can see a faint yellow glow around their hands and then he blinks. His son's hands on Az are glowing also. He wonders, but before he can say anything, he can feel the pain in DG lessoning.

He had been unaware of the depth of her feeling her pain until it had lessened, he had pushed it to the side with the urgency he had in reaching her. It was not the first time he had done that, nor will it be the last.

Before long, he can hear DG's breathing even out and he realizes she is sleeping. Az and Raw both slump in exhaustion. Ambrose puts his hand on Raw's shoulder, supporting him.

Raw looks up with gratitude. "Az and DG need to rest."

Ambrose raises an eyebrow, "It looks like you need to rest as well."

Cain tells them, "We all need to rest. Ambrose, we will need to keep an eye on Raw and DG. Jeb, you can handle your Princess, right?"

Ambrose looks at Cain, and making a decision, "I will keep an eye on Raw. You stay here, keep an eye on DG."

Cain searches his eyes and tells him, "It's still her choice, Ambrose."

Ambrose just simply answers, "And it will be." He helps Raw stand. "Trust me, Cain." With that, he helps Raw down the stairs. He opens a door he finds on the first floor, and finding a room, helps Raw inside. He helps him lay down on the bed while he himself sinks into a chair, limbs sprawled everywhere.

Raw looks at him, "Ambrose brave. Admit that he knows."

Ambrose looks over at him, sadness written on his face. "It has always been him, hasn't it?"

Raw sighs as he sits up. "DG help heal Cain. Now Cain is going to help heal DG."

Ambrose closes his eyes. "I would have done anything for her."

Raw shakes his head, "Not anything. You would not stop this from happening."

Looking up, Ambrose shook his head. "I love her too much for that. And care too much for Cain." He sighs, finally asking, "Did I ever have a chance?"

Raw cocks his head to the side as he thinks. "If past had not happened? No one knows. Life Mates rare, not much known." He looks into Ambrose's eyes. "Remember what Grey Gale, say. There be one for you, Ambrose. And you be needed to heal DG."

Ambrose's eyes snap as he answers a little coldly, "Raw, you think I would deny DG anything? No matter what happens, I love her."

Raw smiles. "Good. DG need her Glitch."

Ambrose closes his eyes. "And she will always have her Glitch. Raw, sleep. You talk more than Glitch ever did." He hears a chuckle and then silence. He glances up, wishing and hoping that the two people who he loves upstairs can heal each other.

* * *

><p>Cain watches as everyone exit the room. He resists the urge to lock the door, knowing that they will be wanting to check on the woman who is sleeping. Plus if she needs them, he doesn't want to impede anything that will help her.<p>

Moving to the wall where he can keep an eye on her, while having the windows and stairway in his view also, Cain slides down the wall. Staring at the woman who he loves, he just lets himself rest, his head against the wall.

After a couple of hours of the odd rest he is doing, he is distracted by the sun rising. He just stares as he only watches one sun, bigger than their own two, rises in the east. As the light enters the room, Cain is startled to see the OZ in pictures all over the room.

A memory surfaces of her bewildered on the Old Road, saying she had dreamed of this place. And the proof is on the walls in front of him, everywhere actually. You can see the progression of talent over the years and they frankly amazed him. He knew she draws; she had drawn on the quest of this house. But to see the full scope of her talent, it awes him.

Then he heard DG moan and he is by her side in an instant. "Princess?"

DG opens her eyes and tells him, "Can't call me that here, Cain."

He smiles, "And why not?"

DG turns her head away.

Cain frowns. It starts now. "DG?"

She sighs. "It's a term of endearment here, Cain. People would get the wrong idea."

Cain's hand reaches out and he gently turns her head back to him, "Maybe I want them to get the wrong idea."

DG's eyes get larger, and she stammers, "C-Cain?"

Cain smiles down at her. "Deeg?" He watches as she fights the spell, knowing that losing her is not an option. Not after last night. He gently tells her, "Sweetheart, get used to it. I think you have the wrong idea about a lot of things. By the way, what you did to the Papay fields, breathtaking, Darlin'."

DG looks embarrassed and she looks away from his compelling eyes. She can hear her mind telling her, _He will hurt you. You took away Adora and made his son grow up without him._ _You need to finish healing OZ to be accepted. They are only tolerating you. You-_

Cain could feel her pain growing and he frowns. He quickly tells her, "DG!" When her startled eyes flash to his, he smiles at her. "C'mon. You need to eat, and we need to talk to you." When she just stares at him, he sighs and picks her up in his arms.

Shocked, DG asks him, "Cain, what are you doing?"

Cain chuckles. He gently corrects her, "Wyatt. I know you can say it. Call me Wyatt. It gets confusing sometimes with everyone calling out Cain, especially with Jeb here. And I am taking you downstairs so we can get you some food, and talk with you." During this speech, he has gone down the stairs, passing Ambrose who is chuckling also. He can't help it, the look on DG's face is priceless.

Ambrose tells them both, "Good morning. I found the nurture units and they had an overload from the transport over. They are both fine and Emily is making us all breakfast. Hank is outside turning on the grid." Then his eyes flick to Cain's, "The bubble is gone."

Cain nods and moves into the kitchen. He settles her in a chair and sits down next to her, Ambrose on the other side.

DG stares at both of them, lost. But before she can ask anything, Emily deposits cups of coffee in front of them and the rest of the group gathers. Soon enough, everyone is eating and joking around. DG just stares at the group, trying to figure out why they are here. But every time her mind starts to tell her why they will hate her, Cain interrupts it.

Finally breakfast is done and cleared off the table. DG stares at them all and finally asks, "Okay, why are you all here, and how did I get here?"

Az sighs. She looks at DG, and holds out her hand. Cain is sure that DG didn't even think about not grabbing it, it is ingrained in her now. "DG. I don't even know how to start."

Ambrose doesn't hesitate. "DG, we know about Tutor."

DG's eyes widen. She tries to scramble up out of the chair but Cain quickly pulls her into his lap and wraps his arms around her. She fights him "Cain, I have to get away. He will hurt you!"

Cain tucks her under his chin and soothes her, "Shhh, DG. Tutor is not going to hurt me. And I told you, call me Wyatt. I know you can do this. Just try it out."

The rest of the grin, knowing Cain is making her take her mind off what is frightening her and doing what he has been doing the entire time.

Ambrose is lost. He has no idea how Cain is doing what he is doing. At first he was confused, Cain would just start talking to her and she would have this lost look on her face. After awhile, he realized what Cain was doing. Every single time the whisper spell tried to push her away, Cain interrupted it.

What Ambrose is lost about, is _how_ he is doing it?

DG rolls her eyes and just looks up at him.

Cain can't help the ghost of smile. "Darlin', no one will answer your question until you can say my name."

Sighing, DG finally says, "Fine, _Wyatt_."

Az couldn't help it. She starts laughing. DG gives her a dirty look, and it only serves to make Az laugh harder. When she finally calms down she glances at Ambrose. "I am shocked you don't find this funny. How many times did it take for you to get her to say your name?"

Ambrose grins, "About a couple hundred times. But that was better than…" His smile fades.

Jeb asks, "Better than what?"

A small voice answers him, "Tutor. Or Toto. I still can't call him by his right name, only because-" Her voice stops.

Jeb can see the tightening of his father's jaw and the other reactions of the men around her. He growls out, "Because why, DG."

All of a sudden he is hit with her blue eyes. They look lost and insecure mostly, but right now her pain and betrayal are evident.

Jeb moves over to the woman he thinks of as his sister. He drops in front of her and his father, softly telling her, "DG. No one is going to hurt you anymore. None of us will allow it." Then he grins as his eyes flip up to his father's and down, "Especially not my dad. But we need to work to get you better. Trust us, Deeg."

Cain's arms have tightened around her and he tells her, "DG. What you have been thinking is not true. WE don't blame you for the Witch. Never have, never will."

DG had panic set in as the Whisper spell tries to block this from happening. Cain quickly gets up and carries them into the living room. He realizes this is it. This is when they work to heal her.

Ambrose follows them and perches on the arm of the chair she is sitting in. When he realizes she is fighting what they are saying, he gently grabs her face in his hands, not thinking. "DG. Listen to me. I don't blame you for the Witch. I could never blame you for the things I love more than anything about you. Your compassion and curiosity. You were eleven years old, DG."

DG just stares at them then tells them, "It's because I am drawn to the dark."

Az kneels besides her. "Deeg, you weren't the only one who heard her. You heard her first, but I could hear her too. And she didn't grab for you when you ran, she grabbed me. For a reason."

DG starts to cry. "But if I didn't go chasing after the sound, the Witch would have never been released. If I didn't let go of your hand…"

Wiping her tears, Ambrose again steps in, "And if I didn't pay attention to you, you would have never known of your mechanical aptitude which in turn and helped you with your concentration in your magical studies."

Az picks it up, "If I wouldn't of ignored the child, then who knows. If I had been better at my lessons, I would have been able to read the old language. Deeg, we can sit here all day playing what if. The facts are this. I am the sister drawn to the dark and that is why the Witch grabbed me, not you. She could have easily grabbed you. She was focused on you to make you let go my hand, the minute you did, she had _me_, not _you_."

Az drew herself up. "Deeg, you were never to blame. Tutor was wrong to blame you, but he was urged down that route. The Witch wanted a betrayer, and not able to turn anyone or even given the ability to plant any doubts in any of your companions, she made one. But at the same time, he betrayed everyone."

DG just turns into Cain and he holds her. He softly tells her, "DG, it's not your fault. None of it ever was. I seem to remember telling you the same thing before."

Deeg feels like she is being assaulted and tries to hide, but then Cain tells her, "We love you, DG. We came for you, needing you to be whole."

She looks up at him surprised. Love her? But then the voice in her head thunders through. And without consciously thinking about it, she flickers out of Cain's arms and is running outside.

Az just stares after her. "I wonder who exactly taught her that spell."

Cain didn't even hear her as he ran out after her. Ambrose just sits there.

Jeb turns and looks at him. "Aren't you going after her?"

Ambrose looks at him, "She loves him. They both have loved each other for a very long time."

Jeb frowns. "I know he is my dad, but you have loved her since she was little. And she loves you too. Why are you not fighting for her? I thought you said it was her choice!"

Ambrose sighs. "Jeb, she already made her choice. Think on this. Cain has stopped the whisper spell every time it tried to activate while we were eating lunch. I never felt a thing."

Jeb got into his face. "The Grey Gale said it would take both of you. This is my sister we are talking about. And I will be damned if she is not healed because you are unwilling to fight for her!"

Ambrose finally explodes. "I love her with everything I am! Losing her when I thought she died is one of the most painful experiences in my life. It taught me that love and life was too precious to lose. Seeing Cain and knowing that he loves her more that any person I have ever seen love someone else, how can I stand in the way of that? Especially knowing she loves him the same! If she choose me, it wouldn't be because of anything but her running scared. That is not fair to any of us. We need those two together to face what is coming. I will love her no matter what. Always. You can't just give up that type of love, even if I find my Life Mate. But maybe that is what is needed, the rest of us are basically family, but whomever I Bond to, maybe they need that connection. I don't really know. I just know I love her so much, I want the best for her." Tears are in his eyes as he finally admits out loud that Cain is the one for her, not him.

The rest of them stare at him shocked. They had thought he had just given up, not that he had really thought this through.

Popsicle leans back in his seat. He finally asks, "What happened to her? She would take blame for things, but not like this."

Jeb is still picking his jaw off the floor, so Az answers, "Whisper Spell."

Momster and Popsicle both gasp. "Whisper spell?"

And Ambrose looks up at them, "And Cain is going to break it the spell."

* * *

><p><strong>Final count, 4,950 words.<strong>

**Please review. **

**Just so you are aware, Lemons are coming, and they will be cut out because of Fanfiction's rules. But they will be fully published on my WordPress site. Also, my Facebook group had been told that this was ready on Wednesday. I was sick and they let people know when they published there. Both links are in my Profile.**

**Fairfarren~Wendy.**


	9. Chapter 8 Listen to Your Heart

**Sorry! I was out of the house and unable to update this until now! Thanks as always to Rissa!**

**Disclosure: Tin Man and such are all under the property of their respective owners and writers. I just spend until 2am working out plot points with an awesome friend. **

**Word count before editing: 3,453 **

**Song I listened to for this chapter_: Gravity of Love _by Enigma_._ **

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Popsicle leans back in his seat. He finally asks, "What happened to her? She would take blame for things, but not like this."_

_Jeb is still picking his jaw off the floor, so Az answers, "Whisper Spell."_

_Momster and Popsicle both gasp. "Whisper spell?"_

_And Ambrose looks up at them, "And Cain is going to break it, the spell."_

_Now:_

* * *

><p>Cain is running after DG. He doesn't know what is up with Ambrose, but he cannot help his brother, at the moment. DG means so much more to him and he cannot allow her to run away from him. This morning he finally gave up fighting this bond he feels with her. Now he is following that bond and rounds the corner, sliding to a stop.<p>

DG is in front of him, collapsed next to a tree sobbing.

Cain slowly moves to her, crouching at her feet. He can't watch her be like this. He knows that even though it is supposed to Ambrose and her, he can't do it. He can't stand to see her in this pain. That is what had caused him to unconsciously give in and led him to this moment in time, for him to convince her to give in to this feeling, to give up the feelings of worthlessness.

DG tries to pull away, **_He will hurt you!_** But Cain doesn't let her. He pulls her to him and he just sits there with her, letting her cry it out.

When she calms down, he tells her softly. "I have never blamed you. How could I, DG? You were only a child."

DG is tired, she keeps feeling they are all attacking her, but her rational mind and her feelings are fighting with her. This is why she ended up sending Cain away. Tutor had threatened him, and she couldn't find her balance with him around.

But right now, her filter is completely failing her as usual around this man. "Cain, or _Wyatt_, as you keep insisting, you could barely look at me when we first met. There were times you turned away from me. Why would you do that if you didn't blame me for Adora's death?" It is what she keeps going back to on why he couldn't _not_ blame her.

And just like that, the elephant in the closet is out there.

Cain realizes that here and now is it. This is when he will have to prove he loves her and what has happened. It may be now that the Life bond will be settled, if it hasn't been present all this time.

He looks down and lifts her face so that he can see her eyes. "DG. I _never_, not for even _one_ second have ever blamed you for Adora's death. Ever." And when she opens her mouth he softly puts one finger on her lips. "Now is time for me to tell you, DG. I _need_ to tell you what went through my head. Can I do that, Sweetheart?"

DG stares at him. **_He is only doing this to be in a better place to hurt you!_** Then she found herself arguing back, _Cain has never lied to me, never tried to hurt me._ And with that thought, she nods.

Cain relaxes some. He smiles down at her, and unable to help himself, he kisses her forehead. He settles them more comfortably against the tree. He is still looking in her eyes, needing her to see the truth in his own. "I am not going to lie to you. I loved Adora, so very much. However, the second I saw your face in the view plate of the suit, my world reordered. Then you opened the suit and I saw you clearly. DG, it felt as though every single thing in my world condensed around you, and you were all that mattered."

He pauses, searching her eyes. "I was confused. To me, I felt guilty for that sudden change in emotions. That is why I couldn't look at you, I felt…guilty. As though Adora and Jeb didn't matter. They did. They still do. But not as much as you do. Then each time I looked in your eyes, the bond became stronger. I found myself reacting to any danger you were in. And as time went by, I came to the realization that even if it had not been for that bond, I still will feel the same way. The only difference is that the bond gives me more than I would normally have."

His eyes close as he remember one of the scarier moments in his life. "At the Northern Palace was the first time I truly stopped fighting it. And I can't tell you how scared I was when you were missing, and that I had a large chance of not being able to have you by my side. You see, first there was Glitch. Before you were killed, Ambrose had sued for and received permission to go through the Courting process. He succeeded, and all of the OZ knew of it. We also knew that he had refused to allow the Suitor Bond to be dismissed. He is in love with you. As Glitch, he fell in love with you all over again and I was scared that you would be taken from me that way. Then as I fought Zero and lost, I fell to the lake below thinking of you. You are the reason I didn't die in the Lake. I couldn't give up, I felt as though you were calling me."

His arms tighten around her as he opens his eyes to continue to gaze into her eyes, "Then to find out that you were taken by your sister, who had already killed you once…It physically hurt. When I woke, your name was the first one out of my lips. That was when Glitch admitted how he felt, and forced me to face the fact I too was in love with you. He had no idea I had admitted it to myself already. That wasn't what I was fighting, I was fighting more than that. I was fighting our everything."

Cain takes a breath. "Then we get into that damned Tower and you had already rescued yourself. But by that time, I was feeling guilty, Zero had taunted me telling me my family was still alive. I was so conflicted. And then when you hugged me, I felt whole. And I realized that I couldn't do that to you. I could not love you the way you deserved until I spoke with Adora. So I walled myself off from you." He softly snorts. "I should have known better. The minute I had found out that you were in danger in Central City, I was done for. But, I was a fool. I fought it. I fought it so hard, telling myself that I will guard you, and once I found Adora, I will explain what is happening and hope she will forgive me. Instead, I found out that she had died, and you were there for me. I remember how you slept that night, so close to me. That night I thought on it so much. I wanted to talk to you, see how you felt, but again, there was Glitch. And we had just found out how much he had given up to protect the OZ. I couldn't do it to him."

His eyes are turning into a more intense blue. "DG. When you called for me when the Seeker took you, it tore my heart apart. Even finding my son alive didn't help. I was anxious to get to you, I knew you were alive, but I needed to be there. Once I was able to leave, well let's just say that the mutt didn't need to lead me to you, I could have done it myself."

DG hesitantly says, "That was the first time you willingly hugged me."

He nods. "The relief I felt was unspeakable. Damn, DG. If I could have, I would have taken you somewhere and told you then. But, as a fool, I didn't listen to my heart. I continued to hide from you everything I felt. Until I realized that you were going into that Tower, and I would not be by your side. I _couldn't _be by your side. Later I would realize I knew the instant you fell from the balcony, when you needed me to shut down that machine. I threatened Ambrose's brain because I could feel your fear. That was the second that it all condensed for me, you were far more important to me than anything else. I was so worried until I saw you again, it was indescribable. Then to have you go and collapse, you scared me. I couldn't feel anything. Then to find out you were trying to kill yourself. DG, my heart collapsed. It was after that, when Az suggested me becoming a Suitor for your hand, I went for it. The Bond just settled into me. Everyone wondered why, but I knew that it was due to the bond that was already there. The Suitor bond was nothing next to it."

Then the pain of what she did to him shows in his eyes, "Then you sent me away. I didn't know about it right away, I found out that part just a few days ago. I also found that you had blocked yourself from me. Even if Az and Glitch hadn't asked me to come home, I was getting ready to anyways."

He closes his eyes, and then opens them, their intensity taking DG's breathe away. "I came in and saw you. I almost fell to my knees to see you in that much pain. You were sleeping, so I moved to your anteroom and fell asleep. In the morning you were gone, and the instant you disappeared, it tore into my very soul. I was desperate, as was Az and Glitch. We met and talked, Jeb joined us, everyone telling their point of view except for me. Once we put the pieces together, and figured out what had happened, I was fit to be tied. I hunted down Tutor, but he somehow got away. We called everyone back and the following day received a shock. Your ancestor came to us and sent us on a quest to find you."

He smiles, "I will tell you more about that later, but basically we are all here because we love you so much. But your mother and father were completely torn up to find that you are blaming yourself. You see, not one of us blames you. It has never crossed our minds. It is completely impossible to cross my mind, since there is nothing to blame." He takes a deep breath, "DG, I love you. So very much, darlin'. I have since I met you. I am sorry that it has taken me this long to tell you. You deserved my heart that has been yours from the very start."

DG can't help staring at him. She asks, "You love me?" the shock, the awe that he, of all people loves…her is evident in her face.

Cain stares into her eyes, "And will for the rest of our lives. DG, I cannot explain how I feel completely. But I will spend the rest of our lives together making up for the fact I didn't tell you about this from the very start, if you will have me."

Still staring at him, DG knows what he is saying. When he was shot, she had felt the punch of it. When he hit the water she had gasped with the shock of it. It had allowed Az to catch her. When Az messed with her memories, the thought of him was there. He was the one that Tutor threatened, somehow knowing how she felt. Him not being there made it to where it felt more that everyone blamed her.

Realizing this, DG frowns. Why would it be his absence that made it worse? He is the main reason she accepted the blame. Her head explodes in pain as she explores the reasoning.

Cain gasps, "DG!" the pain she is feeling is immense, and it came on all of a sudden. He pulls her closer to him, trying to pull the pain from her, anxious that she not feel this.

She looks at him and can only gasp out, "Why?" The pain grows to the point she arches her back.

Cain grabs her head and forcing her to meet his eyes, he tells her, "It is a spell DG. The only way to break it is to accept me. Please, DG!" He realizes in that second that he is the one. And he accepts it fully, and it fills him with a power that is calling to it's other half, the fragile woman in his arms.

Frowning, DG actually puts it all together in a flash. It is a spell that is doing this. And for some reason, Cain is the answer to it all. That is why he was threatened. Why she was forced to send him away. Why him being here is making it worse.

DG opens her eyes fully, they latch on his, seeing the same pain she is feeling. And somehow that is what makes her give in.

They both gasp as a silvery blue light fills them both, opening them both up to the other. DG sees the dark parts of Cain's soul and accepts them as he accepts hers. She also sees his love and devotion to her as what it is, not what the spell in her head had twisted it to. Tears fill her eyes at the beautiful feeling. She feels his guilt still over what he feels is his desertion of Adora and she soothes it, showing he never has and never will desert the feelings for Adora. And at the same time reassures him that he is not slighting her at all with this. His love for DG is so totally different, there is no comparison.

Cain sees her feelings of unworthiness and pain from so much that has happened to her, and he soothes them all with his love for her, while promising that he will be at her side for the rest of their lives. He sees how her love for him was twisted to the point she felt it was wrong. He uses his own feelings to show her how wrong that idea is. Her love for him is the center point of his thanks to the gods every second that she is with him. He also proves to her with his memories how no one blames her, and how much he admires her for the fact that even though she thought this, she did everything in her power to make sure she put it right. He shows her the beauty of the Papay fields and the thanks the Papay have for her.

They both felt it when the Whisper Spell broke under the power of the Life Mating. And they both feel the Bond solidify for both of them, a marking on their ring finger and hand burning. They look into each others eyes, noting the silver ring around each other's eyes. The glow fades away and Cain holds DG to him.

DG mutters, "Well, that was different."

Cain chuckles as he is working to catch his breath. He leans back so he stare at DG. "I would ask how you feel, but I can feel it."

Chuckling, DG looks back into his eyes. "Woah. That will be different." At Cain's look of puzzlement, she tells him, "Your eyes have always been different, but now there is a silver-"

Cain finishes it for her, "Ring around them?" DG nods. "You have the same thing, Darlin'." Then his face grows serious. "Thank you, DG."

Her smile grows, "There is nothing to thank me for. I was just as stubborn as you were."

Cain just laughs. "What a pair we make. I think this will be one of the interesting Life Mating's."

DG frowns, "Is that what this is?"

Cain looks down at her. His face gets serious. "Yes. Life Mates are what it sounds like." He frowns, trying to put it where she can understand, "You are basically the other half of my soul."

Feeling his frustration, she tells him, "Basically, no one can separate us?"

Cain chuckles, "Not just no one, _nothing_ can separate us. It is very powerful, Sweetheart. So powerful it can make species able to be together. The last one was your ancestor in fact." He frowns. "Deeg, while I want nothing more than for us to be together, I think it is time for you to hear everything. It sounds like the OZ needs you again. And as much as I don't want it to be you, the OZ is not listening to me." And with that Cain sighs.

Shaking her head, "Well, I guess I can go and rescue the OZ. But is sounds like we need to have a talk with it."

Cain grins down at her as he stands and grasps her hand to pull her up to him. "About what?"

She matches his grin. "Well, I think that I deserve a break. The last time didn't count since I was under a spell. But now, since the OZ has seen fit to basically marry us, she can grant us a honeymoon right?"

Cain's grin turns into a smirk and he pulls her closer to him. He murmurs, "Well, I don't know about you, but I feel cheated of even being able to kiss you at our wedding."

Her face is angled towards his, as she answers, "I agree. Shut up and kiss me, Cowboy." And without a second to spare, he closes the distance between them.

Their lips touching sends a shock wave through them, and they both turn the kiss from a simple meeting of lips, to one of love. Their lips caress each other's, Cain's hand on the back of her neck, holding her to him as the other slips down to her back. DG's hands are on the back of his neck, one playing with his hair at the back of his neck. The experience is the key to the gravity of their love for each other.

Cain soon slows the kiss down and bestows kisses to her lips to where they both open their eyes to stare at each other.

DG's lips curve into a smile and she tells him, "We waited way too long for that."

Cain matches her smile and he pecks her lips. "I agree. But we need to head in." He kisses her again, not being able to contain the joy he feels in being with her.

They turn and Cain wraps his arm around her waist as she leans into him. They both are smiling softly, frankly amazed at how they are feeling. But all too soon, DG stops.

Turning his head to hers, he feels her guilt and pain. "Deeg?"

She looks up at him and asks, "Glitch?"

He closes his eyes at the pain his brother must be feeling but before he can say anything, Ambrose tells them, "He already knows, Doll."

DG spins to face him. Glitch is standing there before her. She runs to him and he catches her in a hug. "Glitch, I am so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you-"

Glitch catches her face and he lifts it towards his. His eyes search hers, and they momentarily widen when he sees the ring and his eyes flick up to meet Cain's to see the same ring in his. He smiles. "I knew you two were Life Mates." Then his face looks back down at the woman he loves in his arms, "DG, it would have hurt so much worse to know you choose me over him. Cain loves you to a point I can't, and you love him the same. You both would have been miserable. I love you both too much to do that."

Cain walks up and clasps him on the shoulder. Ambrose looks at him and nods. "I really am okay with this. I knew yesterday for sure."

Ambrose grins, "Besides, I have someone out there for me. I was promised."

DG looks up at him puzzled. But before she can ask, Cain tells her, "It is part of what we need to meet about, Princess."

Ambrose grows concerned; he looks up at Cain, "Did it break it?" _Please don't let it all be for nothing._

Looking up at him, DG tells him, "Yes. "

With that Ambrose nods. He lets her go and grins as Cain wraps his arm around her again. He bows to him, "Well, I guess Ahamo will be stocking up on that oil."

Cain grins back at him, "Guess so. At least this way he won't worry about the monkeys anymore."

Looking at both of them, DG shakes her head. She puts her arm around Ambrose and tells them both, "C'mon you two. I get this feeling I need to be brought up to speed. Let's go." With that, the two men laugh and putting both their arms around her, escort her into the house.

* * *

><p><strong>Word count: after editing 3,580 <strong>

**Please review. **

**I just got back, so tomorrow's updates are going to be spotty. I need to not only update and edit for this week, but the following weeks to. So I will update as soon as I can, but I have to do all those other back from being gone things like clean and so on. Hopefully I will see you soon!**

**Fairfarren~Wendy.**


	10. This Has To End - My Line in the Sand

**Original Post at 12:13 pm CST:**

Not acceptable.

Not at all.

So. I will tell you what I have gathered. A lot of people are angry. So angry that they are taking action. Which I full heartedly agree with. They are keeping this clean folks, we are not descending down to her level. But we refuse to be silent, since that has done nothing but make her think she can continue to do things.

I seriously believe that this person is young, or young in mind. The way she goes about things is not mature, nor is it something that a bunch of adults need to deal with, but since there seems no stopping, there is a time that you have to say stop.

But, Kitty, you are replying to her! You are feeding the troll, you are giving her the attention she craves!

I will answer to this. I ignored her. My friends ignored her. And she didn't quit. We took the very high road. And she did not learn a lesson. Instead she acted out on accounts she has POSTED that are hers but she is not able to access. This smacks of a young person who does not think the consequences of her actions all the way through. It may have been good enough in school, but this is the real life, and the world doesn't operate like that.

She has been warned. But she has not learned a lesson. She has somehow got it in her head that this is allowable. That she has some right by being published on Amazon that allows her to be better than the rest of us. That she is right.

I'm sorry, but lessons in real life are about to commence. We are taking a stand, and asking others to join us in this. Over on Bertie Bott's site, there is a petition going on. I highly recommend you go there and participate in it. One stand instead of many might get the attention of FanFiction.

There are advocators for the rights of FanFiction writers. While I get traffic from FanFiction and use them to gain interest from stories, their attitude that FanFiction Writers have no rights, has gained me nothing but disgust for them.

So here is my plan. I will reply to Bertie's petition. Then I will do my own campaigning, taking this morning to report each and every story. I know there is more plagiarizing going on, and I have asked for people to read her stories, to check for their own being stolen. There are storylines I have seen being taken from stories I have read on Twilight, she is now writing for other fandoms to help hide her tracks. It isn't working very well if I noticed. So I will report the stories.

If I am taken off FanFiction since I have the audacity to complain about another author, say la vie. Less work for me to update on. I will NOT be working any new stories to the site. The stories that are there, well they will be stopped soon. Sorry for the FanFiction readers, but this is my stand.

FanFiction repeatedly erases others works without the courtesy of warning them as an adult will. They refuse to be adults, so why should I continue to treat them like the children they are. Will this hurt me? Maybe. But I like to think I am established enough to make that decision. I will post a summary of any stories I write so they can be teased with what they are missing.

I am taking a stand, and I am tired of the idiocy that has overtaken the world. Plagiarism is WRONG. **It is stealing and there is no religion in the world that accepts this as acceptable.** This person thinks she is above the law, above the acceptable society acceptable norm. She thinks she is above us all, and treats the rules as not even a guideline to what is acceptable.

Basically. I will be reposting on my reblog all of the responses to all of this, and I highly recommend that you read them all. I also highly recommend you sign up on Bertie's petition. And finally. The person who has borne this attack.

Harley.

Go to her site and follow her. Do it because she is a kickass author that deserves none of this.

Do it because it is the right thing to do.

Do it to show your support behind someone who only defended herself and had her stories removed from FanFiction.

Again, I am tired of this, and I am done with so much of it. And I will do what I can before I am probably taken off. I will break TOS in FanFiction to post on EVERY story I have about what has happened. What I think. So expect to see this post everywhere.

And if you don't believe all this, I would like to redirect you to the actual exchanges I had with her on the subject that I posted here before (links are on my profile):

Plagiarism

More on what is going on

For anyone needing these screens shots and so on, I have the actual emails I am able to forward on this.

Also. Sorry guys. But I will NOT be posting any stories until this is taken care of. Especially not on FanFiction. I know you guys are thinking this is a punishment, but hell. I am taking a stand and doing on of the things I think will tell of my stand on this. It is one of the ways I am trying to help. I will not post a single story or chapter on any site until this is resolved.

There will be radio silence until this is taken care of. The only things you will hear about is about this situation.

This is my line in the sand, and I will not back down. That line might as well be in concrete.

Thanks for your support.

Wendy aka Kittyinaz.

* * *

><p><strong>Post at: 6:50 pm CST:<strong>

You Guys Freaking Rock!

Seriously!

Her stories are down. All of them. Harley, who was the secret ok'r for me to start publishing, is thrilled. So am I!

First all, I am so really thankful to all of you for what you did. You stood alongside me, and I heard so few (Like under 5) naysayers but had hundreds of people pour in their support. This is amazing. I really hate to go through and post another post today on all my FanFiction, but I am unsure what to do. I have so many people who follow me! I think I will reload the page for my readers to know it was resolved…

Harley's thank you can be found here:

Now for the bad news.

I will be moving myself off of FanFiction. It should have **never** come down to this. This should have been solved the first time we brought it up months ago, and we move on with our lives. Instead, Harley lost all those reviews, and for what? A petty disagreement on the behalf of the Plagiarist? A cheap shot?

This worries me. Seriously. Think of what this can mean. IF someone doesn't like you, they can report you and get everything deleted.

I have my stories elsewhere, and I will admit, I am a packrat and keep every single review in my inbox on my email. All sorted into folders for each story split into their bigger parts. C'mon. This is me! Not organize it?! Yeah right!

But for others… this is not an option. I did it because I had a wise mentor who told me to do it, to be able to just open a folder and see all the people who have reviewed. My first story? 259. 184 of those come from FanFiction. 821 is the highest reviews from FanFiction.. but per my count, 1,320. Wow.. There is a reason I am going to do Edge first. Dang do you guys rock! You're will be next since it is 42 off from a thousand.

But still. This is not an option for many. So FanFiction rips that little thrill from Harley and others it has deleted. And it leaves many of her readers confused for awhile on if she is posting or stopped. Not right.

So… I will be moving to posting only on sites that don't require my beta Meridian to spend extra time to rip out the items that would violate TOS. It is hard enough to post on other sites. I will miss the traffic I get from FanFiction, but can you guys really blame me? No matter how careful I am, all it will take is someone being petty to have it all ripped away anyways.

I do post on TWCS (Thanks! You know who!) A03, and here. FictionPad is another place I am posting. I am looking into BetterinTexas, but since I got this site, I am not seeing me moving over there also.

We will do this in a way that there is no doubt to the readers of the stories that they are moved. Everything will be finished. For the lady who asked about Tea Shoppe, it is being reworked since when I went back to it, I can't write in past tense anymore. It messed it all up and I spent more time trying to figure out the right word than paying attention to the story. It is still a favorite. I am clearing the slate of the smaller stories so I can concentrate on the epic ones better.

For now, celebrate the win as we all are. (I'm opening up my Appletini!) Read the new Mummy Chapter. I am making the banner for Cross the line, but the chapter is ready to go. Give me some time before you click the Cross the Line banner below.

See you guys later (Since you know I will wish you Happy Thanksgiving!)

Kittyinaz


End file.
